Nostalgic

I'm curious if any sort of homebrew community for mobile phone games has formed. I did some wandering around using Google but didn't stumble across anything. I did not find any individuals writing such games, much less several of them linked together. Perhaps I've been looking in the wrong places. Is there any such thing out there, or is it too early yet for mobile phone games to have gotten the attention of homebrewers?

I used to have a TV dedicated to my 2600 and 7800. I had a Radio Shack RF-to-coax converter that had an A/B switch to let me flip between the two systems. The signal was rather clear from each, though the 7800's had a bit less interference. Now I have a 2600, 7800, and an indoor antenna all hooked up through a Radio Shack A/B/C switch to my sole TV. (I moved a couple of months ago and dumped a lot of stuff, including all but one TV. I also chose to not get cable TV due to its expense - thus, the indoor antenna.) Anyhow, I find sometimes that when I switch from the TV to one of the two Ataris, I get a black-and-white picture with no sound. If I go to my TV's setup menu and cycle it through the options (antenna and several kinds of cable signal), the problem fixes itself. I don't know if that helps you at all...

It looks like the "Arranged" modes here are not the same as the Arrangement modes from the Namco Classic Collection arcade games. I don't recognize the Pac-Man Arranged screen layouts. (I have Pac-Man Collection for the GBA and the Pac-Man Arrangement port uses vertical scrolling to fit the screen. The PSP screen shot has everything fitting in.) Any word on what the updated versions have in them?

While reorganizing your collection, could you have set a few cartridges - including Adventure - somewhere else, like a table or desk, to get them out of the way? I find when I'm reorganizing, I need extra space before everything fits back in its original space. Something could get lost in the shuffle that way.

I heard from a friend of mine that she saw a post somewhere that the soundtrack to Katamari Damacy will get a U.S. release. I haven't been able to locate this post myself through Google searches. Does anybody know if the OST will get here or am I stuck importing it? The actual name is "Katamari fortissimo Damashii". Here is CD Japan's entry on the Japanese version.

A couple of female friends of mine are really big into RPGs for their Xbox - things like Fable, Morrowind, and Neverwinter Nights. Another female friend of mine is big into Tetris. I think when Minesweeper became the great time-waster of 199x, women as well as men were definitely into it. A former professor of mine - female, by the way - even used it as part of a lesson in an Abstract Algebra class. I'd say that in the modern era, the music games like DDR, Beatmania, Guitar Freaks, etc. are rather popular with women, based on completely non-scientific observation in a couple of arcades.

It's all in the timing, I guess. I just moved out of Michigan on Tuesday to Bowling Green, Ohio. Granted, it's not that far, but I've already got visitors on Saturday. I won't be able to make it. However, I'm glad to see that the meetup at Pinball Pete's happen again. Thanks for continuing the tradition!

I've gotten used to the category-based interface after a little while. It seems pretty natural to me now, though occasionally I slip up in the groupings. (Yesterday I thought I'd find Flag Capture under Mind Games rather than Action.) Perhaps two different interfaces could be included, both a fancy visual-oriented interface and a more plain "list" interface. The latter would be like a Site Map section of a web site. Has anyone reported control problems with the tricked-out modes? I played several games of Red Baron yesterday in Double Speed mode. There were many times that it seemed like pushing the analog joystick up and down got no response, and occasionally my plane would go into a sharp turn, and pushing the joystick sideways to get out of it just caused the plane to turn sharp in the opposite direction. I've never played (or even seen) Red Baron in the arcade, so I don't know if this is expected behavior or not.

I did. I'll join you in being one of the last few watching Enterprise. While it generally hasn't been on a par with previous incarnations of Star Trek, this season has had some rather interesting arcs, particularly the one going on now that highlights changes in Vulcan society. Why a targeting computer would make 2600 sounds is anyone's guess.

After playing the game a while longer, I found that - for me, anyway - the paddle games are easier in Absolute mode with low sensitivity. At least it works well for Super Breakout, both arcade and home. With Pong I still get beat pretty badly - maybe it's the up-down motion rather than left-right. Perhaps horizontal is easier with thumbs. I do give kudos for the challenge modes. They do add something, though not to every game, and getting a "weak" unlock can be a disappointment. (Do we really need to unlock challenge modes for Video Chess? Then again, putting that on double speed could be useful!) As I mentioned before, I am really enjoying the Time Challenge and Hot Seat modes. They really do change your playing strategy. @JeffVav: a question for you regarding the arcade game selection... why has I, Robot not made it to this (or previous) collections? We have some nice rarities like Liberator and Major Havoc now, but I feel I, Robot would have been an excellent addition. It's got historical importance as one of the first 3D polygon games, has a rather unique gameplay concept, and the PS2 and XBox should be able to handle the emulation.

I picked AA for the PS2 on Tuesday. I rather like what little I've played of it so far. The interface is rather nice and easy to navigate, though I wish there was a "site map" in which you could just choose a game and go. I haven't gotten the hang of using the analog sticks as paddles yet, but I guess it's just a matter of time. I didn't like the tiny default screen size. I ended up going to every arcade game and turning off the cabinet art. When I play a game for the first time, I usually end up zooming in somewhat. There seems to be some graininess along straight horizontal edges, but that's probably due to being allowed to zoom in and out. Oddly, I haven't been able to get HSWWSH to come up in Yars' Revenge yet, and that's one of the easiest tricks to pull off. I thought it might unlock something. I really like the pop-up window that tells you the features of the current game number. It's nice to not have to consult the manual. I'm glad to see the Sears exclusives included. While not a Sears game, I'm surprised at the lack of Codebreaker. I'm sure the keypad could have been emulated somehow. I do enjoy some of the weird variations, like double speed (Yars' Revenge is insane this way) and the "hot seat", where you periodically switch between multiple games and try to obtain a combined score among them to unlock a feature. It's an interesting twist. To me, AA is worth the $20, if just for the emulated arcade games and the hard-to-find cartridges. (I can finally see what all the fuss is about with Quadrun and Waterworld.)

Have any of the GBA players out there tried Tron 2.0 Killer App? I'm intrigued by it, but it also looks like it could be a tough game to play on such a little console. I'd like to hear some impressions before I consider buying it. What do you all think of this game?

One of the keys to success (even if it's coming in three seconds before the end, like I did on Make a Star 8 ) is to just keep rolling. I found that due to the time limits, I had to spend as much time as possible picking things up, and not worrying about the few items I may have left behind. There's definitely a balance to be struck between trying to clear out a space and moving on to the next area, where there is more stuff. Also, in some of the later levels, it's pretty much necessary to double back to where you started in order to pick up the much larger objects. Don't try to clear everything in one space - go on to another area, get the katamari bigger, and then come back. I can't imagine getting a shooting star or unlocking eternal mode. It's hard enough just to pass a level, much less do that well. Then again, I haven't really mastered rolling yet. I'm pretty clumsy. On another note, Katamari Damacy got mentioned by a caller to NPR's Talk of the Nation today. Check out the archive here.

One thing to watch out for with using a PS2 for emulation is that it may not behave the same as on the PS1. I found this out trying to play some of the PS1 Namco Museum games on a PS2. In Xevious, for instance, the background music sometimes hiccups, sometimes plays ridiculously fast, and sometimes is too slow. The play is similarly off. The same goes for Gaplus. Not all the games seem to be affected as badly.

I just tried that level for the first time last night. I couldn't even get the katamari to 3 meters. The level seems to be fairly sparsely populated compared to others, making it difficult to build up enough to roll over the larger objects. I actually like that about this game. It's relatively easy to pass a level, but not so easy to do well on them. That makes you want to keep coming back for more. The constellation levels are good examples of that. You're trying to collect as much of a particular type of item as possible. There isn't a specific size goal. However, at the end of the level you are told what percentage of the available item you picked up (or is it all items?). Given the King tends to berate you, it's incentive to try again. The Ursa Major level is a particular thorn in my side. It ends as soon as you roll *one* bear. The level is littered with cubs and even small bear carvings. You actually have to be careful not to roll up the small bears so that you can pick up a bigger one later. That's difficult! The presents in the Make a Star levels seem to be well hidden. I've only found one so far. There doesn't seem to be time to find them and get the katamari large enough at the same time. Then again, maybe I just don't have the hang of things yet.

I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one really enjoying this game! I haven't tried Make a Star 7 yet, but I'll be getting there soon; I think I passed 5 or 6 a couple of nights ago. I even got a shooting star! I also learned the great pleasure of rolling up people into my katamari. What's amazing is that with a game that's so simple in concept, there's such an incredible level of detail. The levels are *huge*; it's too bad there's a time limit in most, 'cause it would be fun to just explore what's there. "My, Earth really is full of things" indeed! The sense of humor is also wonderful. I took this to a friend's house and everybody was busting out laughing at the opening cartoon and the King's comments. (My friends have minds that permanently reside in the gutter, and took some of the comments in a way probably not originally intended. ) I'm digging the music, too! A little bit of J-pop, J-rock, and dance so far, plus one level had some distinctly old-school-Namco sounds in there. (Was it Galaxian or Galaga? It sure sounded like some samples from there.) I wonder if there will be a soundtrack for sale... The game's also a steal at $20. It's probably better than many games twice its price. We've got ourselves a real gem here. Keep on rolling!

Thanks for offering to convert the songs to MP3. I'm using Linux as my primary OS (with Win 98 SE as a rarely-used secondary), so I definitely needed something else.

While in downtown Ann Arbor yesterday, I took a swing into Wazoo, a used music store. I sifted through a few sections, including electronica. I stumbled upon something that I just had to gamble on. Given that Kraftwerk is my favorite band and that I am an Atari fan, I could not resist a CD cover with the middle and right bars of the Atari Fuji as a logo and the title "Das Nonstop-Programm." It was only $8, so I gave it a try. Though made in 2003, it turns out to be very early 80's electro, though I could swear there's a couple of Atari-like sounds in there - including samples from Yar's Revenge! The name of the group is "1L" - look at the Fuji with the left bar missing and you'll get it. The music label is RES FREq - you can check them out at http://www.res-freq.com/. P.S. Sad realization - I picked it up used at Wazoo for more than cover price. P.P.S. The track "analyze & duplicate" is the one with Yar samples, but there isn't a listenable version on the web site.

Copying z26.man to /usr/share/man/man1/z26.1 was enough. I didn't need to zip it. Thanks for the help!

*sigh* Another arcade collection comes and goes, and still no I, Robot... At least there's some unusual ones like Liberator, Space Duel, Stellar Track, Quadrun, Submarine Commander, and Steeplechase. Despite having many of the 2600 games in the collection already, these will still make it worthwhile. It's pretty clear what a Double Speed game is. Does anyone know what the Time Warp mode does?

I followed the instructions to generate the man page and PDF of the Z26 for Linux docs. Both a z26.man and z26.pdf file were succesfully created. However, the man page didn't get installed wherever it needs to go to be recognized if I issue the command "man z26." What more do I need to do? (In case you missed it in my other post, I'm using Suse Professional 8.1, with a 2.4.19 kernel.)

I'm on kernel 2.4.19-74, so I barely qualify for T4 timing. I think my setting got overridden. When I checked the max-user-freq file just now, it had a 64 in it, despite my setting it to 8192 before. Weird. I re-executed the echo command and did a chmod a+r to /dev/rtc. Now I'm getting the T4 timing, though it's not much better than T3 for me. (I got about 56 fps with Fall Down with other settings at defaults.) Thanks for the help!

I recently (finally!) installed Z26 for Linux on my computer at home. I'm using SuSE Linux 8.1 Professional. The T4 timing mode is supposed to be the default, but apparently my system isn't set up right to let it be used. Here's how Z26 responds: Can't open /dev/rtc: Permission denied Falling back on CPU hog (-T3) timing The T3 timing isn't bad on my box, usually giving me between 50 and 60 fps in full window mode. (And this on a 350 MHz Pentium II - amazing stuff!) However, I'd like to see if the more accurate T4 will work. What do I need to do to open up /dev/rtc to my own account? Maybe all I need to do is issue a chmod command, but is that safe for this device? What the heck is an rtc anyway? (By the way, I did issue the 'echo 8192 > /proc/sys/dev/rtc/max-user-freq' command as recommended in README.timing.)

Head over to http://www.psxtreme.com/ and search for the Namco Museum volume of your choice. The one for volume 2 tells how to get to the second Druaga machine.