Tavi

It will be something new to me. As a kid and up until now, I have never played on or even known anyone that had a Sega. It is a completely new console to me. I have played some of the Sonic games as ports (mostly on the Playstation 2/3; they have some nice Sega compilations!) but never on the original equipment. It should be fun to give some of these Sega games a try!

It does seem to work great, with one minor qualifier. For some reason the console does not seem to want to work on channel 3, all I get is static-y rolling black screen. Though with using channel 4, it has a great picture. Which is a pretty minor inconvenience to flip channels when changing between playing vintage consoles. I have not tried the light gun yet. I am pretty impressed it has two games built in. Hang On is quite a lot of fun! I have not tried Safari Hunt yet though.

I did kind of notice that as well. Golf might be fun to play a bit, but the rest do not get me super excited to try out. I will have to snoop on eBay and kijiji now and see if I can find some more game cartridges.

I was snooping around some local garage sales this morning, and found something quite interesting at one. They had a box labelled 'Sega Master System - 20$'. I had a peek inside the box and it did seem to have quite a fair bit of goodies (at least a lot for 20$!) I have never owned (or even played) a Sega before but this had 4 games, two controllers, a light gun, and it looks like all the systems connections in the box. They even still had the systems owners manual tucked inside. I am pretty sure I will get at least 20$ worth of entertainment out of this!

For 'jump in and play' I usually go for some River Raid or Megamania. If I know I have a bit of time; I like Haunted House, Astroblast and Keystone Kapers.

So, this just popped up on my Twitter: https://blog.playstation.com/2021/04/19/playstation-store-on-ps3-and-ps-vita-will-continue-operations/ It seems they are continuing the PS3 and Vita digital marketplace. Just the PSP is being discontinued now.

Overheating is my biggest worry with my CECHA01. I had taken it apart and replaced the thermal paste (I have done this on two CECHA01's and one CECHE01 now; the paste was always dried up) as well as installed a simple fan mod. You can get quite a variety of fan mods from this seller, but I have just used the standard one: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Playstation-3-PS3-Fan-Mod-Speed-Accelerator-Controller-run-cooler-avoid-YLOD/190733529599?hash=item2c689ab1ff:g:11UAAOSw5eBcmomc It is pretty basic, it just speeds up the cooling fan by 50% over whatever the system is telling it to use. I hope between the two, my PS3 will last quite a few years yet. I have about 40 PS2 games, and even a few PS1 titles I still like to play.

I will probably grab some Silent Hill and Resident Evil PS1 titles. I don't think I have played any of them yet, and at the price for the physical media of these titles I am not super keen on spending that kind of money on something I will probably play once just to see what the game is like. I realize the PS3 is an old system now, but I am still shocked Sony is puling the plug on the digital sales for it. I doubt they are making huge profits off it, but for a strictly digital games market the costs to Sony would be pretty low as well.

Have you tried 'Burnout Paradise'? I have had it for the PC for quite a few years now, and bought a copy to play on the PS3 a few months back as well. I am not much for playing racing games, but I do find it to be quite a lot of fun to play and easy to get into playing. It also avoids a lot of the tune up/micro-management the more in-depth racing games usually require. *edit* There is no split screen mode however. So you would be stuck with single player mode only.

This is why I hate digital media. 40 years after they were made, I can still pop in a physical cartridge in my 2600 or Intellivision and get gaming. Now, as soon a company decides to no longer support a platform, all your digital media is effectively gone. I am still a bit shocked as with everyone stuck at home thanks to Corona, all console gaming has seen a huge jump in sales and thus also in profits for Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. While I am certain PS3 would just be a small part of that, it still seems an odd time to decide to shut down any revenue steam while there are still continuing shortages of new consoles and an overall increased demand for console games. As it is all digital services, I cannot imagine it would be a huge expense for Sony to continue to offer PS3 sales and support? https://www.washingtonpost.com/video-games/2020/05/12/video-game-industry-coronavirus/ https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54813841

I did see on my Twitter today a post by Garry Kitchen; showing a stack of Circus Convoy boxes and stating shipping was starting today. https://twitter.com/kitchengarry/status/1374402775455469578

For personal favourites, I would say the shortlist would be: Haunted House, River Raid, Missile Command and Stampede. For iconic I would have to say Yars' Revenge is probably the most iconic 2600 title, and perhaps Pac-man (for all the wrong reasons; but still iconic).

I had a look, and my eBay member information page tells me I signed up in 1999. I guess time flies when you are having fun? :D I do recall eBay giving me a credit last year, which could be used on any eBay purchase I wanted. I guess as an active 20+ year member, that was probably why? It was a pleasant bonus to be sure!

Just popping on to say they seem to be back up and running on eBay. I nabbed a cover for my 2600. I certainly looks like it is well made and will last quite a few years. Plus, I am expecting it should a lot easier to keep clean! The few other covers I have seen are usually cloth or canvas. Guess I will find out in a few weeks when it arrives. But the pictures on eBay certainly look great.

I was snooping on eBay this morning and found this: https://www.ebay.ca/itm/Intellivision-II-Console-Computer-Module-Intellivoice-Bundle-New-with-Boxes/203292548774?_trksid=p2485497.m4902.l9144 Everything looks complete to me, and the units and boxes look to be in excellent condition (they say new in the description). A very reasonable bidding price as well (at least for far) of 52$ USD plus shipping. They also have a second similar set for sale, plus a lot of other vintage gaming items. Someone downsizing their collection perhaps?

For multi-carts there are a few options. You might want to look into a Harmony Cart: https://harmony.atariage.com/Site/Harmony.html I am less familiar with it, but a PlusCart might also be an option?: https://atariage.com/forums/topic/297172-pluscart-an-inexpensive-diy-wifi-multicart/ The last one I know of is the UnoCart: https://thebrewingacademy.com/products/uno-2600-cartridge So there are a few choices for Atari 2600 multicarts.

Global shipping has been a disaster this last year. I get monthly treat boxes from Japan, and some of them have spent up to three months in transit. It used to be two to three weeks from shipment to delivery. Likewise I have had two packages shipping from the UK to Canada both take over two months to arrive. A few months ago I sent a package from Canada to the US, and had it take a little more then two months to finally be delivered. Do not even get me started on China's shipping time. I have some parts on order that have an estimated arrival date in June. I too have bought a Harmony cart a few years ago, and can confirm he is 100% legitimate. But the reality is that shipping, and especially international shipping is a complete mess and there likely will be considerable delays. But that is just how it is this last year thanks to Corona.

That is certainly very cool! ... and with two very good games as well.

That is a sad ending to a tragic tale. Insurance may have covered the monetary worth, but the collectibles are usually invaluable to the one actually collecting them. Plus, depending on rarity some of this collection may be literally irreplaceable. It is good that he got some of the collection back, but it certainly still is a tragic loss.

Well, I know nothing about the PS3 Slims, but you might want to try the tips from this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OmGCCgqVEw They seem to be repairing a similar problem, and seem to have a few things to try for resolving this problem. If all else fails, a good cleaning and new thermal paste might be something to give a try as well? The console is old enough that either of these could be a problem; or part of the problem.

I can't say I am that surprised. There was a huge jump in CPU/GPU and memory between the PS1 and PS2. Even between the PS2 and PS3 there was another sizable and noticeable jump in system specifications and graphics. Between PS3 and PS4 though I think you are now getting into diminishing returns, where system specs are still increasing but the effect is less evident then in previous generations. Which I think then makes it more difficult to convince a happy PS3 owner who can already also watch DVD's/Blu-rays and stream Netflix, to drop 300-400$ for a console upgrade. An upgrade where they also have to rebuild or replace their existing game library. The PS5 is even worse, with shortages and scalpers driving the price for a PS5 console alone to over a grand. A hefty chunk of change to spend on a console with no real library yet.

If you are looking for something a bit more joystick-like, you could try a 'Super Action Controller'? I have a few of them and though I actually use them more on my 2600 then with the Colecovision, they are an official Colecovision accessory. There is also a Wico Colecovision joystick, but I believe they are rare to find and quite a bit more expensive.

Looks amazing! Quite impressive that everything still has their original boxes and are all in such good shape!

Last year I had bought a Tandyvision that needed both the controller mylars replaced before it was playable. I ordered two from this seller, that worked perfectly: https://www.sellmyretro.com/offer/details/brand-new-mattel-intellivision-1-controller-mylar-set-38583 There is also an Intellivision forum thread (probably buried a few pages back now) discussing this seller (Active in the forum; username 'RWAP') and the mylars.

I bought two of these off eBay, 10ft PS3 charging cables. https://www.ebay.ca/itm/10FT-Short-Wireless-Controller-USB-Charging-Cable-For-Sony-Playstation-3-PS3/202711409465?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Under 5$ each and I can then have the controller plugged in while I am playing. Which is handy as one of the controllers I have has a weak battery and is only good for about an hour and some of use before it dies. I can just plug the cable in and then keep on playing while the controller recharges if I want.