The best thing to hit the floppy market EVER!

When this bad boy hit the market my best friend talked it up like it was the best thing since sliced bread! He would constantly talk up this device till I was sold. Also being a design student my files were getting more complex, bigger, and better. I needed a way to get my files to Art School or the Career Center and home again.

This bad boy came in standard IDE and SCSI formats. I picked up a SCSI card and velcrowed the drive under the corner of my desk over my computer. The SCSI increased the R/W Speeds.

Of course, we all know that the Jazz Drive hit from the same manufacturer, but it never took off with disks that cost a fortune. Sure it had a massive amount of space however by then one could have a standard CD-R from 650mb for far far less and the only problem you’d have is writing them getting that dreaded “Buffer Underrun Error”. So sure you bought a spindle and oh 1/4 of that spindle wound up as either coasters or trash due to that error.

But the ZIP Drive was great! Reliability was awesome and the disks came in multiple colors eventually! How can you argue with all that? There was also an internal version of the drive but come on who would want that when they could bring their drive wherever they went (except me cuz. I had a SCSI model) I chose speed over transporting my drive everywhere. My best friend had a parallel version and being we were always around each other bam instant drive!

The one thing to look out for was that you USED it only as a transport method because at any time you would hear the dreaded *CLICK* of the disk going bad… Ah, memories.

*Above image from Wikipedia*

January 20, 2025 by .:Tech:. 0

And you think HD prices are currently high…

My first comp was a IBM PS/2 with if I remember correctly a 150 MB HD. It was even when CD-ROMS were first being installed. I don’t know what Mom and Dad paid for my first computer but it opened a whole new world of discovery and profit!

I can’t imagine that kinda price tag in that ad, makes me wonder what the hell the actual computer cost!

January 20, 2025 by .:Tech:. 0

The Last Faith (Retail) – Thoughts

Well well well… I finally get around to giving a brief review of something I’ve been playing for a long time now – The Last Faith. The last article below this one was a review of the Beta. Needless to say, I had this ready for purchase on Xbox Series X in a deluxe version that came with an artbook, soundtrack, and all sorts of goodies. The date kept getting moved back and back and back. So a good thing I didn’t buy it there as I sold my Xbox.

So I picked it up on Steam after all that frustration. Little did I know that wouldn’t be my only source of frustration. THIS GAME IS HARD! I love a good challenge but when controls seem to almost be a bit lumbering in a world where quick reflexes are key it makes for an odd experience. I only have experienced this on the Steam Deck OLED where before I had an Alienware (sold that too). However, a piece of software I’ll be putting up some info on in a future post, Crossover for Mac lets me play just about all my games flawlessly and this is one of them! Here’s my link to how the game performs in Crossover. Just scroll down to “Rating Breakdown” under the stars to see my notes if you are a Mac user and want this to work. I also uploaded all the media for the game.

I will say the controls felt a bit more responsive in a Crossover (WINE-based system) than the Steam Deck. Overall this was EXACTLY what I expected based on the highly playable beta! The story holds up although a bit slow at times still loaded with cool characters. Let me start the next part by saying anyone who knows me knows I don’t like voice acting in video games. However, their voice actors brought emotion and tone to these characters. Sometimes VERY VERY creepy!

Action at times is slow to FAST needing those reflexes that this older gamer just doesn’t have much of anymore, something that would take my son 1 or 2 attempts takes me 15-20. Hey it’s what happens when gamers age.

Let’s talk sound and score. I LOVE this soundtrack it’s dark and at times can enhance the dark nature of the game more than the visuals. Often you’ll hear cries and screaming in the background depending on where you find yourself, immersing you into the world of darkness that is The Last Faith.

I’ve taken a few screenshots from the Steam Deck OLED version. Enjoy and if I were to give this a pass or a buy I’d say buy it and DO NOT CALL IT A METROIDVANIA GAME! That term shouldn’t even exist…

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January 19, 2025 by .:Game Reviews:. 0

A look at The Unofficial GBA Pixel Book

Picked up this book (see this link for more movies and still images of this book than I provide) a bit ago and have been going through it from time to time. I was hoping when I bought it for better games to be included but I suppose being unofficial they can probably only show some A-list and B-list games yet it does have a huge Pokemon section. So who knows?

Being a lover of pixel art my entire life even while I was an art director this book keeps my attention every time I pick it up. It’s a rather large book at 300 pages. The book is published by my favorite coffee table book company for video games Bitmap Books out of London. It’s interesting reading how some of the graphics came to be and the workload around them. I would if it wasn’t already on their site list some of the games included here in my review of the book. Also while I can go on and on about how I enjoyed the book. Not my favorite though from Bitmap but is still good to throw on the shelf and take out now and again for a quick second-read book.

Bitmap books are best purchased directly from them as you can get pre-orders in and their shipping prices are very fair considering they are coming from overseas. When you get the book the presentation after you open the cardboard box is amazing. It’s wrapped in thin paper with their logo and some other shapes on it. You can rip it open like a present someone gave you! Below are some of the shots of some of the pages in the book but as I said above go to their site for a much better experience of what the book is and how it’s laid out. LOTS of pictures even a quick little movie of the book cover and pages flipping.

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January 18, 2025 by .:Book/Movie Reviews:. 0
1980's Gamer!
A child of the 80's and 90's here to remember the good old days. A careless whisperer...with a REBEL YELL!!!

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