Monday, March 13, 2017

PSP UMD Movies

I have had my PSP for a little while now, I don't play it all that much, but then again I don't play any of my handhelds all that much, Anyway.....
 I am fortunate enough to have an office job where I can listen to my iPod all day. I generally listen to both Podcasts and Music. However, I had to work 4 hours New Years Day (well the day after new years since it was on a Monday) this Year. Now I file Compliance paperwork with banks, and they didn't work that day, as they "observe" it the following business day.

So, I decided to mix it up a little, and I brought my PSP and a couple UMD Movies (Clerks & House of 1000 Corpses) to listen to/watch. Propped the PSP between my Keyboard and dual monitors. It was kind of a nice break from Podcasts and Music. There is NO way I could do it on a regular work day though, the VP would FREAK. But, I can do it on those occasions where I go in for a few hours on a Saturday.

I looked up a list of UMD Movies, and made myself a list, and are now looking for somethings I am hunting down. Here are a few I decided to pick up.

Factory Sealed The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Remake, $4.00 Shipped

 Hostel $4.17 Shipped


My PSP UMD Movie Collection. Hitch & Fantastic 4 are Factory Sealed as well.

I plan on building up a library, to mix it up when I have to work a holiday (or observed holiday) or a Saturday afternoon.

Friday, January 20, 2017

Sega Dreamcast and Saturn Pickups

As promised, my recent Sega pickups.

Picked up the Manual for Expendable off eBay, now my copy is complete.

And, from Amazon, A factory sealed Dreamcast game. Coaster Works. It was $5.xx, I forget the exact amount. I do plan on opening it, and playing it though. Not much of a factory sealed collector, Games are meant to be played.

 Another Amazon purchase, an Action Replay Plus for the Sega Saturn. Lots more memory than the internal memory, and as a side bonus, I can now play import games on my Saturn. Time to order some Japaneese and European games we didn't get in the U.S.
 The Cartridge, see that port in the back of the Saturn is for something.
And, Installed.

Wait, is that 2 Black Sega Sports Dreamcast Controllers? Didn't I finally just get one to go with my Sports Dreamcast that didn't come with one?

Well, I was perusing Craigslist one afternoon, when I found someone selling a Sega Dreamcast Lot for $40.00. I looked at the ad, and it was the Black Sega Sports Edition, and it had the controller. I paid $40.00 for the first one I bought (See Blog HERE), and I just decided I needed a second one.

I actually wanted another one to modify. I want to remove the Sega Sports Logo from it, and replace the internal battery with a replaceable lithium ion battery. I saw an article and video on you tube, but didn't want to do it to my perfectly good working Dreamcast, just in case.

Anyway, it took a few days of things coming up, but finally the guy was out shopping near my neighborhood, and delivered it to me in the apartment complex parking lot.


And it came with a Bonus Genesis Mortal Kombat 3 Manual. I don't have that game yet, so will hold onto it in case I get a copy without. I am also selling the Fishing Rod Controller, White Controller and VMU to recoup a few bucks.

Went to hook it all up to test it out, and was going to pop in a game, and when I opened it up, Bam:
Free Bonus Game! Vigilante 8 Second Offense

Awesome, I didn't have that game on any system. It fired right up, system and game played perfectly. I tested all the controllers, etc.. Great Deal for $40.00!

UPDATE: I sold the Fishing Rod Controller for $15.00, and the White Controller and VMU for $15.00. Making this a $10.00 Deal, Not Bad!

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Video Games, Toys & Controller Pickups

Xmas Presents, and other misc video game pickups incoming.

The cat is enthralled with the game stack

Lets get the Disney Infinity Figures out of the way 1st.

 Picked up Kylo Ren & Boba Fett, forgot to take pictures when I first got them in the package.

Picked this one up today, I don't even know who this is? I believe he is from the Rebels Cartoon? I have it in my Netflix queue, just haven't gotten around to watching it (and a hundred other things LoL)
I Really only got him because he had the Light up Lightsaber.

A Hot Wheels Forza Motorsport car. There were 5 different ones, I got the Ford GT, since that is the one on the cover of the Forza Motorsport 6 game. Would like to get the other 4, but at $5.50 a piece, not a necessity.

And another Power A item. (see my review of their controllers HERE)
My daughter ended up with 3 of these for Xmas, and passed one off to her daddy


On to the Games!


 The Elder Scolls Skyrim was an Xmas present from my Wife, looking forward to spending many more hours going through again. This time I started with a Bow, as opposed to a two handed weapon
I picked up The Elder Scrolls Online for myself as a Stocking Stuffer at Best Buy for $4.99 just before Xmas.
 Far Cry Primal from my Parents, and Titanfall 2 from my 5 year old.

The Gears of War 4 and Forza Horizon 3 from my Daughter and her Boyfriend.

My wifes gaming presents (which means I get to play them too)

 Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Yoshi's New Island from my Daughter

And my Wifes Birthday is January 17th, but I had her open one of her presents today, since we spend the weekends playing Call of Duty and Minecraft together.

My wife loves Pink, and sent me a picture of this Dawn Shadow controller back in Sept.
So, I ordered it for her for her birthday. She Loves it, and I really like the black home button.

Thats it for now, I do have some Sega things I also picked up recently, just gotta get around to Pictures and such. Stay Tuned!

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Road Rash for Nintendo Gameboy

One of my absolute favorite game series of all time, is Road Rash. 

I have played hours and hours of this game on various systems. My favorite of course being the Sega Genesis. I do want to collect all the versions of Road Rash out there, just to have them, even if I will never play them, like on the 3DO, who can afford one of those just to play Road Rash.


In the summer of 2014 I came across this copy for the original Nintendo Gameboy at Savers. The cartridge was in pretty good shape, and was $2.99. When we went to check out, the cashier moved the game over to a pile of books we were buying, and never rang it up. I wasn't going to say anything, not my fault if they don't do their job right. So I ended up getting it for free, which was good because once I got it home, it didn't work.

I tried it in my Gameboy Color

I tried it in my Gameboy Advance

  

I tried it in my Gameboy Advance SP

 I tried it in my Gameboy Advance Player on the Gamecube

I tried it in my Super Gameboy

I took the cartridge apart, cleaned it really good, looked over the board, didn't see anything wrong. Oh well, will just have to keep an eye out for another copy I guess. Could even see if I could get one with a bad cart/label for cheap. At least it was free.

Fast forward to about 2 weeks ago, I was listening to a Sega Dreamcast Podcast, and they got off on a tangent, and someone had mentioned Road Rash on the Gameboy, and how it was like one of 10 original Gameboy games that will only work on the original Gameboy.

Now I have an original Gameboy, it was my sisters from back when, and I never did try the game in it.
And it worked!

I found it odd that I never thought to try it in the orignal Gameboy, but I always thought all original Gameboy games worked in the Gameboy Color and Advances, so didn't really think about it.

Listening to a Sega Dreamcast Podcast of all things, to find out about an original Gameboy Game, who woulda thunk it?

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Power A Controllers

I have have never really bought or used Third Party controllers. I have just always preferred First Party or original manufacturer controllers and accessories for my systems. Generally OEM 1st Party Accessories are a better build quality, fit and work better and last longer.

Unintentionally however , I seem to have acquired a few from a company called Power A.  

I am not the biggest fan of my PS3, I only bought it to play the exclusives, other wise it is pretty much just a Blu Ray/Netflix player in my kids room. 2-3 years ago I was talking to a guy at work, who mentioned his daughter preferred the Xbox 360 Controller over the PS3 (I had to agree) and he had found a controller for the PS3 designed and laid out like a 360 controller. Intrigued, I had to look this up and here is what I found:

This PS3 Controller by Power A

The buttons also light up, neat, but not necessary

It is a wired controller, which honestly is a nice fail safe, so a few years down the road I don't need to worry about an internal battery pack failing. I plugged in my new controller, and gave Killzone 3 a whirl. And I was impressed. It made playing on the PS3 not so bad. The Dual Shock is a fine controller, and I don't notice an issue playing PS1 or PS2 with one, it just didn't fit playing on the PS3. 
Here it is with my favorite 360 controller and my PS3 Dual Shock

The rubberized grips are both nice but also at the same time, irritate my hands after extended use. It is not much of an issue really though, as I do not honestly play PS3 that often or long. Overall I recommend this for any PS3 player.



When I got my Forza Motorsport Edition Xbox One, it of course came with a controller. But that weekend the Wife and I went to pick up  a few accessories. An extra controller for her (An Xbox Covert Forces Controller) a Play n Charge kit for my Forza controller and I saw this and got it for my daughter, who was 4 at the time (5 now) as it was smaller and would work better in her hands, she LOVES to play Minecraft. In the store I thought it was an actual Microsoft product, but once I got it home I realized that it wasn't. But after what she did to one my 360 controllers (it is strictly hers now) I wasn't going to complain, and I wanted her to have her own. Again, another Power A.

There was a Green One and Red One, She chose Red.

Here it is with my Forza Controller

She has been using it almost daily for over a year now and it still looks and works great. My only complaint is I wish it had a headset jack, then she could talk to her sister (who is 22) when they are playing Minecraft together. Again, I would recommend it. 


My wifes mother and step father go to auctions and buy bid lots of things, and one night shortly after I got my Xbox One they came over and gave me an Xbox One Controller. They do not have an Xbox One and didn't need it. I was looking it over and found, again it was from Power A.

The Power A Spectra Xbox One Controller

With my Forza Controller

I also noticed on the back, some buttons. 

Turns out after you plug it in, you can set the hand grips and center to light up. You can set it to be a solid color, or have it rotate through colors. The center and hand grips also can be set at different colors, or rotate through the colors separately. I usually set them to rotate separately. 



Overall a good feeling controller, and actually is much better on the hands when playing Forza Motorsport for extended periods, as the Handgrips are thinner. 

If anyone makes a quality, good looking & working Xbox One Controller in a Xbox 360 Controller shell, please Take My Money!

Another benefit, with it being wired all I have to do is plug it into my PC, when I need to play Xbox through Windows 10, if the kids are playing the Wii U or watching Netflix on the TV. Bonus!

My Complaints with this one are it is a little cheaper feeling than an official Microsoft contoller, and the Vibration motors are fairly noisy when playing Forza or Call of Duty. But, again these are just minor issues, and overall it is not a bad controller.


I will always prefer OEM 1st party controllers, but I would also if for some reason was a little strapped for cash, or was looking for something not provided by the Manufacturer (like the PS3 controller above), I would definitely give a look at Power A to see if they have anything that can full fill my needs.


Thursday, December 1, 2016

More Video Games, Accessories & Promo Items

Been a slow few weeks, but I haven't really been out much. Been working, and Playing Forza Motorsport, and Modern Warfare Remastered.

Had found out recently that Rockstar Energy Drink had some promos for Gears of War 4 (which I don't have, Yet, but will get eventually), and I really, really like my Rockstars (I drink 2 a day)

Here is my mini fridge after grocery shopping, Rockstar Juiced = Deliciousness!!

Here was the ad I saw.

 Here are all 4 of my Gears of War Rockstar Promo cans, with my Gears of War Immulsion Energy Drink Can. The one on the Left was the hardest one to find, took 2 weeks to finally score at a Cub Foods. And the Gears of War Lapel Pin Set my Daughter picked up for me.

Now on to some Games!

Made a quick Goodwill pickup 2 Saturdays ago. A couple Original Playstation Games.

Air Combat, which I already have in the Long Box, but I like to get the Regular "Jewel Case" Releases to go along side them. And Battle Stations with Explosive 2 Player Action!

Complete, and in Good Shape!

And it wouldn't be a pickups blog if I didn't get something Sega related right? I have been looking for a Black VMU for my recently acquired Black Sega Sports controller. I was watching an eBay auction for one, that was listed as Untested to $5.60 shipped, and another new in box for $13 or 14.99 Shipped (I forget) and Sunday night I happen to hop on eBay, and found an auction for these:

 A lot of 4: Red, Green, White and Black for $12.xx shipped.

I immediately clicked the Buy it Now. I am trying to get all the different colored controllers and matching VMU's, so this worked out. They all seem to work fine when I plugged them into a controller and turned on the Dreamcast, they displayed the logo when playing Demolition Racer.

I already had White & Blue VMU's, these are all in pretty good shape, except the Green One.

 Lots of Stickers........

All Nice and Clean, and I even managed to keep the original battery sticker intact.


Now when I get a Green controller, I don't need to open my sealed one.


My Black Controller with a White VMU

With a proper Black VMU. Can't do much about the Rumble pack though, they only came Gray.

That's it for tonight, hoping to get a Dreamcast video shot and put up on my You Tube channel this weekend, we'll see.