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 Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 10:03 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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(seems like I Halo3'd it to death ) |
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 10:11 PM |
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Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 2538
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
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Aaargh! The red ring of death!
That happened to my kid's X-Box this summer. Other than the wait, it was quite painless. One fairly brief phone call, an empty post-paid box arrived in a couple of days, the defective unit was shipped off and three weeks later a replacement showed up. The replacement is not trouble-free - it won't work with the CD drive horizontal so it has to stand on end - but it's functional. |
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 10:22 PM |
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Joined: Dec 15, 2003
Posts: 4404
Location: Slovakia, Bratislava
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That's what you get for game consoles 
Heh, but it's good to know that there are other freaks that play computer games here  |
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There are pointy haired bald people.
Time flies when you have a bad prescaler selected.
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 10:47 PM |
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Joined: Nov 14, 2001
Posts: 3438
Location: Charlottesville, VA USA
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Hey Daqq,
Do you or have you played the Command & Conquer games? CC3 is pretty good if you like RTS.
Regards,
Steve |
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 10:50 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Peret,
Thanks for the details. I've filled in the M$ forms online to arrange for a "free" repair but it wasn't clear how the process was actually going to work. So it sounds like I just sit back and wait for them to send me the box to return it in (I wasn't sure if they'd send out a courier to collect it or something). The forms said I'd get details via email but so far nothing has arrived.
I've read quite a lot about this (including the Wikipedia article) and it seems that M$ have put aside a $1bn fund to handle all the returns as it's such a prevalent problem (and that's also why they've extended everyone's warranty to 3 years to cover the problem). The suggestion is that they used the wrong kind of Pb-free solder and it's subject to hairline cracking in the "hot" environment of the insides of the 360.
David / Steve,
I am SO gutted. I'd already finished Halo3 on "normal" mode and was about 2/3rds of the way through it again playing it on "heroic" when things ground to a halt.
I'm a fairly major fan of the 360 (my previous two consoles were actually a PSOne then a PS/2 but I gave up waiting for a PS/3 when I got an HDMI TV set and needed some hi-def content to play into it). I've completed Halo, Halo2, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Gears of War (though I am only part way through on the higher levels), Rainbow 6 - Vegas, Ghost Recon 2 and possibly my favourite - Lego Star Wars which is just the classic computer game!
Just hope it's back with me for Christmas.
Cliff |
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 11:16 PM |
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Joined: Dec 15, 2003
Posts: 4404
Location: Slovakia, Bratislava
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My finished and unfinished games are on the bottom. http://www.daqq.eu/index.php?show=about
Note that most of the games were legaly bought in years long ago... so none of the "you damn pirate" stuff please...
Quote:
Do you or have you played the Command & Conquer games? CC3 is pretty good if you like RTS.
I played Red Alert 2 for two years. I finished it within a month, after that I just played against the AI, and used several mods. However, against a real oponent I guess I'd suck.
Oh well, for me games arent anything to be taken professionally, I just wanna have some fun with them. Not like Warcraft pro players, some of them don't enjoy it anymore, thay just play for fame.... |
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There are pointy haired bald people.
Time flies when you have a bad prescaler selected.
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 11:20 PM |
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Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 2538
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
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Quote:
I'd already finished Halo3 on "normal" mode and was about 2/3rds of the way through it again playing it on "heroic"
But you hang on to the hard drive - take it off the returned the unit, and put it on the replacement when it shows up - so you don't lose all your previous saved games. |
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 11:21 PM |
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Joined: Jan 03, 2006
Posts: 4417
Location: Hemel Hemsptead, UK
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 Am I the only person here who had no idea (prior to reading the thread) what that picture implied? Or even was *of* ?  |
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Neil Barnes
www.nailed-barnacle.co.uk
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 11:25 PM |
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Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Posts: 104
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 11:27 PM |
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Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 2538
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
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| No reason why you should know, unless you're the owner of an X-Box, or a person (like me) who enjoys reading articles on Slashdot and the Register about bad karma happening to Microsoft. It pays off when your wife and son come to you and say "there's something funny happened to the X-Box", and you can turn round and say with authority, "Aha, I know exactly what to do about that!" |
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 11:31 PM |
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Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Posts: 104
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Microsoft is now using the "Falcon" platform in the latest XBox 360's which uses a 65nm process (Heat Reduction). To see if you have this version you can read about it below:
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/28/65nm ... ickle-out/
http://forums.xbox.com/15804553/ShowPost.aspx
In case you are going to buy one soon you can validate it before hand to see if it uses the 65nm process by using the following.
How to find a Falcon model 360 in stores
Lot #0734 (Halo 3) or later (all SKUs)
Manufactured on or after 8/24/07(An HDMI Premium manufactured on 8/19 has been reported as 65nm.) |
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Posted: Nov 01, 2007 - 11:39 PM |
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Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 18596
Location: Lund, Sweden
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Quote:
Am I the only person here who had no idea
No, I was totally ignorant too...
(And just a few weeks ago my colleagues had a hard time believing that I had no idea wat "Facebook" was. I could see it in their eyes... "Dork!") |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 12:22 AM |
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Joined: Nov 17, 2004
Posts: 6137
Location: Great Smokey Mountains.
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JohanEkdahl wrote:
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Am I the only person here who had no idea
No, I was totally ignorant too...
(And just a few weeks ago my colleagues had a hard time believing that I had no idea wat "Facebook" was. I could see it in their eyes... "Dork!")
Add me to the crowd.
The first thing I do when I get a new PC is remove all the games. Jeez... I got addicted to solitaire , I can't begin to imagine what would happen if I got a hold of a real game machine like an Xbox. I'm picturing something like an intensive care unit with drips and feeding tubes and me unable to let go of the console or take my eyes off the monitor. Now if the get realistic virtual sex, maybe, just maybe...
Smiley |
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FREE TUTORIAL: 'Quick Start Guide for Using the WinAVR C Compiler with ATMEL's AVR Butterfly' AVAILABLE AT: http://www.smileymicros.com
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 02:05 AM |
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Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 2538
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
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Quote:
Now if the get realistic virtual sex, maybe, just maybe...
Aye, that would be a fine thing. Or better, Fembots that don't get a headache or sulk because you forgot their silly birthday, and whose only concern is your pleasure. Stepford Wives (first version) - I would be an early adopter But as I recall, it can turn out pretty badly if the system isn't properly debugged (Westworld). |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 02:18 AM |
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Joined: Jul 10, 2006
Posts: 2655
Location: Minneapolis
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Quote:
Add me to the crowd.
And me; no time for games....
Quote:
Stepford Wives (first version) - I would be an early adopter But as I recall, it can turn out pretty badly if the system isn't properly debugged (Westworld).
If you haven't seen it, check out Cherry 2000. It's a riot. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 04:41 AM |
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Joined: Feb 19, 2001
Posts: 25923
Location: Wisconsin USA
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Quote:
And me; no time for games....
Quote:
If you haven't seen it, check out Cherry 2000.
???
Lee |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 05:13 AM |
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Joined: Jan 03, 2004
Posts: 1637
Location: Apalachin, NY, USA
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barnacle wrote:
:oops: Am I the only person here who had no idea (prior to reading the thread) what that picture implied? Or even was *of* ? :shock:
Nope - I also had no clue.
An Xbox would be useless in my house as I don't own a television (I'm guessing that you need to connect the Xbox to a TV, no?).
Don |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 05:53 AM |
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Joined: Jan 23, 2004
Posts: 9832
Location: Trondheim, Norway
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Quote:
An Xbox would be useless in my house as I don't own a television (I'm guessing that you need to connect the Xbox to a TV, no?).
"No TV? Then what's all your furniture pointed at?!" 
(A quote from the only episode of "Friends" I've ever watched)
- Dean  |
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Atmel Studio 6.1 is now released, grab it here.
Report AS6/ASF bugs here.
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 07:30 AM |
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Joined: Mar 22, 2005
Posts: 962
Location: S. Florida
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| I knew what those rings are but I can think of other ways to spend $800. Besides, I'm still trying to beat nethack. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 08:26 AM |
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Joined: Dec 15, 2003
Posts: 4404
Location: Slovakia, Bratislava
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Quote:
Besides, I'm still trying to beat nethack.
Yipes! All respects to you then! And good luck, you'll need it. And patience. |
_________________
There are pointy haired bald people.
Time flies when you have a bad prescaler selected.
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 09:39 AM |
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Joined: Sep 20, 2003
Posts: 4080
Location: Surrey, England
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Me too. I once had a clunky DOS backgammon game on my PC. Played it constantly, couldn't get any work done, I had to delete it twice(if you know what I mean) so I know that I can't be trusted with games. I was given Scrabble for the PC by my daughter as a christmas present about 4 years ago, I feel terrible that I've never installed it, but I'm not in a position to stop work just yet...
Still, back in the good old days, I used to get to play arcade games at work. We used to "overclock" one of the arcade driving games so that playing it at normal speed seemed like slow motion. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 10:05 AM |
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Joined: Aug 22, 2004
Posts: 1624
Location: Germany
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Nothing can beat the good old C64 games 
Regards
Sebastian |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 10:23 AM |
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Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 18596
Location: Lund, Sweden
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| LodeRunner for the Mac back in the mid-to-late eighties... (I still have that diskette somewhere in the disater area. Is it possible to find a fully functional Macintosh SE at a reasonable price?) |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 10:36 AM |
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Joined: Oct 30, 2002
Posts: 5721
Location: The Netherlands
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The only game I played to death was Chucky Egg on my BBC 
I binned a Macintosh SE last year |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 10:49 AM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Ah so my previous thought of inviting people to an online Halo3 or GoW blast fest on Xbox Live wouldn't have worked in none of you have one then?
Y'all are kind of missing out you know - if you have an HD TV then what are your options for hi-def content? A limited number of satellite/cable channels on an astronomical monthly subscription (shouldn't say that really as I now work for Europe's leading supplier!), HD-DVD or Blu-Ray movies or Xbox360/PS3. The latter two let you get access to HD-DVD or BluRay for quite a lot less than a standalone player and you also get access to some of the most advanced software ever written with eye-blisteringly good graphics and unbelievable gameplay.
In fact it's because it's so good that it's a real wrench when it dies
BTW, not sure where outer_space gets the $800 figure from. In the UK the 360 is less than £200 (~$400) and most of my games I bought second hand on ebay (a few moths after release) for half nothing.
Cliff |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 10:53 AM |
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Joined: Sep 22, 2004
Posts: 435
Location: Oslo, Norway
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[quote="barnacle"] Am I the only person here who had no idea (prior to reading the thread) what that picture implied? Or even was *of* ? [/quote]
Add yet another "no idea whatsoever" to the list. I have [i]heard about[/i] Xboxes and PS's though... |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 11:05 AM |
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Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 3413
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia
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I love games and I have a GBM and a DS Lite and tons of old stuff and now in the flesh of Altera DE1 board I also have a full featured MSX system.. But I don't really play them much, it's mostly a matter of day or two of oohs and aahs and then I either read forums again or hack something :) Ok, in rare cases it's a matter of a month of ooh and ahs, like it was with New Super Mario Bros (for the DS) or Psychonauts (for PC).
However, just recently, I replayed The Ur-Quan Masters, a public domain re-release of Star Control II, for some 4th or 5th time.. I believe it remains one of the best games ever.
I also can't sustain for long without Tetris, but that one I have in my cellphone (wrote it myself). Must be a Russian thing :) |
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The Dark Boxes are coming.
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 11:45 AM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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If nothing else I can't believe that some of you haven't enjoyed the delight that is DOOM at some point over the last 14 years:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_%28video_game%29
On Christmas Eve each year we used to have a company wide computer golf tournament (this was in the days of CGA graphics and we all had to huddle around one 8086 PC and take turns as there was no network games back then). These days (even in 2006) we dig out a copy of DOOM and play it across the network. The satisfaction of catching your manager/director off guard with a rocket-launcher is something everyone should experience!
Cliff
PS wonder if my interest in computer games is because I actually joined this company 24 years ago to provide programming/firmware support for a Z80 based home/games computer that had just launched in 1984?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amstrad_CPC |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 11:48 AM |
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Joined: Jan 03, 2006
Posts: 4417
Location: Hemel Hemsptead, UK
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I'm relieved. I'm obviously in good company in my ignorance.
For what it's worth, the only game I play - in moments of mindless tedium - is a version of Grandfather; a card patience game I first found in Linux, wrote in MSVC4.2 as an exercise in C++ for windows <shudder> and actually prefer to play in linux under wine. But then, I'm strange
I did play space invaders, years ago, and, um, galaxians. Does that count?  |
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Neil Barnes
www.nailed-barnacle.co.uk
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 12:12 PM |
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Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 3413
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia
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@cliff: I never liked Doom (although Wolfenstein 3D first taught me the wonder of unrolled loops), but with Descent and Descent II I spent quite a lot of time. In fact, most of my computer upgrades back in those days were Descent-centric. E.g. hmm what an expensive monitor... damn but what would Descent look like on it?!
Descent is now free and available for everyone. Since no monitor is large enough, I just project it on the wall. But it makes me nauseous very quickly |
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The Dark Boxes are coming.
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 01:53 PM |
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Joined: Jul 10, 2006
Posts: 2655
Location: Minneapolis
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Lee, Cherry 2000 is a movie from the mid-80's or so, starring Melanie Griffith. Very funny movie.
Back when I did have time I played all the Tomb Raiders. After Lara Croft, nobody can compare; what a rack! |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 02:46 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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cpluscon,
For once we agree about something! I think I've played just about every Tomb Raider game there is to completion, in part it's for the awesome scenery in the games |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 02:57 PM |
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Joined: Jul 10, 2006
Posts: 2655
Location: Minneapolis
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I haven't played any other modern PC games so can't compare them. One of these days I'll play the series through again.
You know computers have come of age when you can be infatuated with an animated character. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 03:18 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Quote:
You know computers have come of age when you can be infatuated with an animated character.
You want to try playing the later Final Fantasy games on the PS/2, Yuna in FFX is quite a piece of computer animation:
http://www.converj.com/blogger/converje ... /yuna.jpeg |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 03:40 PM |
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Joined: Oct 31, 2005
Posts: 128
Location: Oklahoma
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| I saw some of you guys talking about CC. Anyone play Supreme Commander?? I play that quite a bit, also all the Battefield series. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 04:04 PM |
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Joined: Nov 17, 2004
Posts: 13851
Location: Vancouver, BC
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Quote:
LodeRunner for the Mac
I still have LodeRunner for my Apple II!
I play games all the time. But then, that's not surprising since that is my job.
My favorite game of all time is Starsiege: Tribes. I played it nearly every day for 5 years. |
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Regards,
Steve A.
The Board helps those that help themselves.
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 04:08 PM |
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Joined: Jul 10, 2006
Posts: 2655
Location: Minneapolis
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Quote:
Yuna in FFX is quite a piece
So some horny anime-freak programmer made an action game starring an ass kicking Japanese babe? Great, now I'll have to upgrade my graphics card. Probably need a new MB with PCI express too. $$$. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 04:25 PM |
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Joined: Oct 31, 2005
Posts: 128
Location: Oklahoma
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Koshchi wrote:
Quote:
LodeRunner for the Mac
I still have LodeRunner for my Apple II!
I play games all the time. But then, that's not surprising since that is my job.
My favorite game of all time is Starsiege: Tribes. I played it nearly every day for 5 years.
Heck yea man I loved playing tribes. Did you play classic or any of the mods?? I loved renegade version with the engineer and rail gun combo. Good times. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 04:42 PM |
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Joined: Dec 26, 2006
Posts: 31
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uCPU wrote:
I saw some of you guys talking about CC. Anyone play Supreme Commander?? I play that quite a bit, also all the Battefield series.
I love Supreme Commander, I also really enjoy playing total annihilation still and used to play battlefield 2 as well
Oh and I also love Tribes and still play it along with a free game called legends thats almost the same as tribes
http://legendsthegame.net/ |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 04:50 PM |
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Joined: Dec 15, 2003
Posts: 4404
Location: Slovakia, Bratislava
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Quote:
I also really enjoy playing total annihilation
Oh....that one was great.... We should do some freaks tournament... anyone up for a game of Worms 2? |
_________________
There are pointy haired bald people.
Time flies when you have a bad prescaler selected.
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 07:52 PM |
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Joined: Mar 22, 2005
Posts: 962
Location: S. Florida
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| I don't think any of us have the same game installed as someone else. |
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Posted: Nov 02, 2007 - 08:06 PM |
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Joined: Jul 10, 2006
Posts: 2655
Location: Minneapolis
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| Several years back a coworker was very proud of his hard earned Pinball high score. Being bored one day I hacked the score storage in the registry so my score was 10X his. Unfortunately he was not amused by this. |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 12:29 AM |
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Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 2538
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
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| Does anyone else use DOSbox? I've got it for both Windows and Linux. It runs all the good ol' DOS games - the Ultimas, Daggerfall, Doom etc - in most cases, better than they ever ran in real DOS. |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 12:54 AM |
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Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Posts: 104
Location: Atlanta, GA
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 01:34 AM |
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Joined: Mar 22, 2005
Posts: 962
Location: S. Florida
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I want to work on a game that is fun and incorporates circuits in such a way that you learn them if you master the game. Like, a puzzle game where you have to tweak the circuit until it works or something.
I have too many ideas that I don't act on  |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 01:48 AM |
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Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 3413
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia
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@outer_space: Paradroid? Quazatron? Not exactly that, but at the very basic, rudimentary level.
Youtube has endless reviews of old videogames. I can spend hours watching them. |
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The Dark Boxes are coming.
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 01:58 AM |
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Joined: Mar 22, 2005
Posts: 962
Location: S. Florida
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| Never played those games. I got freedroid installing right now. I hope it makes a great addition to nethack and minesweeper. Might replace minesweeper thats getting a little stale. |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 01:59 AM |
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Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 3413
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia
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| Freedroid is very nice, I played it quite a bit. |
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The Dark Boxes are coming.
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 02:38 AM |
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Joined: Aug 05, 2005
Posts: 267
Location: Tacoma, WA
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I am ancient compared to many of you, I suspect. However, I have killed more aliens in Halo's 1-3 than I ever suspected I would get the chance to when I was in college. Great fun, killing aliens. No regrets at all.
Jim Lake |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 02:55 AM |
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Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 3413
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia
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@jbtech: here's an insane project I did just a few years ago
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The Dark Boxes are coming.
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 03:10 AM |
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Joined: Mar 22, 2005
Posts: 962
Location: S. Florida
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| Where do you get those arcade buttons? I would use them on non-game projects! |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 03:32 AM |
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Joined: Nov 17, 2004
Posts: 13851
Location: Vancouver, BC
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| You can get them from X-Arcade. They have both pre-built units and part packages. |
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Regards,
Steve A.
The Board helps those that help themselves.
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 03:40 AM |
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Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 2538
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
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outer_space wrote:
Where do you get those arcade buttons? I would use them on non-game projects!
Happ Controls in the USA.
Starpoint in Europe. |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 04:05 AM |
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Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 3413
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia
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| I ordered from Happ. |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 04:14 AM |
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Joined: Mar 06, 2007
Posts: 104
Location: Atlanta, GA
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You really have a nice setup. You have every type of control (even a wheel) and it looks like custom circuits to connect it together. Does it connect to a standard joystick connector or does it require a custom I/O card with special software to allow you to use those controls (for mapping and calibration)? I haven't used anything other than older game console joysticks but nothing like the original arcade game controls like you have.
You definitely took the MAME experience to the next level. |
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 04:18 AM |
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Joined: Nov 17, 2004
Posts: 13851
Location: Vancouver, BC
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| X-Arcade is cheaper. 20 buttons and two joysticks for less than Happ sells 20 buttons for. |
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Regards,
Steve A.
The Board helps those that help themselves.
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 05:14 AM |
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Joined: Feb 14, 2007
Posts: 1858
Location: San Diego California
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Sadly, I’m only allowed to play with the kids and grandkids now. To discover why re-read Smiley’s most excellent descriptive post on the 1st page regarding feeding tubes etc etc. That, and it seems your body really does need sleep, at least 4 or 5 hours every four days or so? I proved that too. Anyway, virtual really games in general are ‘not good for the health’ of a compulsive got to win, must finish, must beat the last level kind of guy.
Fortunately I have 3 kids and (7 grandkids old enough) to play video games and then say Grandpa I’m tired. OK the eight year olds, but the 18 year old, no way. She’s just kicking me to the curb?
Jealous,
John |
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Resistance is futile…… You will be compiled!
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Posted: Nov 03, 2007 - 12:42 PM |
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Joined: Jun 27, 2005
Posts: 3413
Location: St.Petersburg, Russia
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The disadvantage of my setup is that it's very big and clunky and quite painful to atttach -- I rarely use it anymore. It has: one keyboard controller to handle all regular buttons and joysticks; a serial version Genius KidsBall (sadly out of production it seems -- but -- Marble Madness!); a tape and glue device made from an optical mouse and a floppy drive, the spinner. Not visible in these pictures is the red-ball-top 4-way Pacman joystick, wasn't yet delivered.
This is the detail of my spinner: it's a mouse, floppy drive rotor, spinned by user, just makes the mouse think it moves sidewise:
When I was building this, I knew nothing about microcontrollers at all and, obviously, was not afraid of connecting some 100 wires: X-Arcade was just barely announced by the time of completion, I believe: If I was building this thing now (and sometimes I'm thinking of redoing it), I'd definitely try to keep it as small and minimalistic as possible: Also it just HAS to have only one connector :)
And I haven't even really ever been an arcade addict :) |
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The Dark Boxes are coming.
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Posted: Nov 06, 2007 - 03:58 AM |
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Joined: May 26, 2004
Posts: 2538
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
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Back on the original subject, the X-Box, my replacement X-Box 360, the one sent to me directly by Microsoft, developed a fault - this well-known one -
That's not my brand-new $50 Halo 3 disk in the picture, but it looks exactly like it. A great plowed furrow 1/4 inch from the edge. When I try to run it I get a screen that says (in about 7 languages): "Put this disk in an X-Box 360 to play it". Strange, that this message is issued by an actual X-Box 360.
Isn't it about time someone started a class-action suit against these cowboys? If there is one, I'm in. They've somehow gotten away with peddling dysfunctional, broken software for decades because it's hard to prove actual loss, but maybe we'll have better luck against dysfunctional, broken hardware that causes all-too-tangible damage to expensive private property. |
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Posted: Nov 06, 2007 - 11:24 AM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Peret,
Funny you should mention that. My Xbox360 originally came (last Christmas) with a copy of Gears of War. Not knowing about the "well known faults" I operated my Xbox horizontally and may even have moved it while it was powered on. I played half way through GoW when I got the message about "disk read error, try wiping with a soft cloth then restart". When I removed the disk it looked pretty similar to your picture above (execpt that this particular "ring of death" was about half way into the disc). I then read the internet and found out about this common fault and from then on I have operated it vertically (even though it doesn't "feel right" to run DVDs vertically!) and have had no further damaged discs. But it does mean I ruined a £50 ($100) copy of Gears of War. I sent it back to the retailer though they argued it wasn't their reponsibility (though it clearly was!) and in six months I still haven't had a replacement. In the end I bought a second hand copy on ebay for £15 ($30) but one thing's for sure, I'd NEVER buy anything from www.play.com ever again!
Like you say, I wish Microsoft had done a better job of advising users about these problems - they are in contact with almost all the users on Xbox Live! and could easily have sent messages to say about avoiding disc damage or what to do if the three red lights appear - there's no point trying to hide faults like these when the internet exists and they WILL be recognised and discussed widely.
Cliff |
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Posted: Nov 07, 2007 - 04:01 AM |
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Joined: Jun 21, 2002
Posts: 679
Location: Canberra, Australia
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| My MTV (cheap 160Gb HDD) DVD recorder has a similar circle of LEDs, red when recording, blue when not, round the 'select' button of the front panel keypad. When it decided to ignore me, all the LEDs (red and blue) came on at once. The warranty repair people told me it was a power supply problem. (purple power problem?). Fortunately the hard disk contents were intact. |
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Posted: Jun 10, 2012 - 04:47 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Oh for the love of Pete, five years later and I've just Skyrim'd my Xbox to death again
(last few days it had mysteriously locked up without warning and now, when I repower it I get the RRoD) |
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Posted: Jun 11, 2012 - 10:19 AM |
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Joined: Dec 06, 2007
Posts: 2512
Location: Redmond, WA USA
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| I hate when that happens. |
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Larry
Those afraid to embrace the future will quickly fade into the past. - larryvc
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Posted: Jun 11, 2012 - 10:45 AM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Oh well I suppose it's a good excuse to get:
Which has the advantage of having wi-fi, I've always thought my PS/3 and Wii were better on this score for having the wi-fi built in.
I just hope I can somehow get the 100+ hour Skyrim save game onto a replacement machine as that's a lot of cut/thrust and spell casting! |
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Posted: Jun 12, 2012 - 03:54 PM |
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Joined: Apr 16, 2001
Posts: 3522
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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Doesn't the 360 have a detachable hard drive? The one we have does and I assumed everything saved goes to that hard drive.
btw if you search YouTube for repairing the RRod you'll find some pretty silly stuff, including a great looking gal who tears the machine down (lot's of editing while someone who knows how to use a screw driver does most of the work). Then she proceeds with the magic fix, remove the heat sink, then ALL THAT YUCKY SILVER GOOP! (the thermal paste) Now replace with the heat sink and mounting hardware they sell and all is well. Oh lord.......... |
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 05:04 AM |
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Joined: Jun 08, 2011
Posts: 301
Location: Maryland, USA
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| I seem to recall that a previous series of Macbooks was released with far too much thermal compound applied at the factory, resulting in a rash of overheating issues. So in that case the answer actually *was* to remove a bunch of that yucky silver goop! |
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 05:01 PM |
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Joined: Apr 16, 2001
Posts: 3522
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| In this particular video she removed all the thermal paste! I'll have to see if I can chase it down when I get home. |
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 06:03 PM |
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Joined: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 3904
Location: Chicago Illinois USA
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Games never really catch my imagination. Like I have the angry birds and play it a little once in a while, but haven't touched it in weeks.
However, for a time, I spent Thursday evenings playing the 550 point version of Adventure at Colossal Cave. I had a map of the place drawn in red felt tip on sheets of green bar computer paper taped together that I'd carefully constructed. I was working on mapping the maze of twisty little passages all alike by dropping things in each room when the map got tossed and I never bothered to start over again.
I found a version for windows that played in a text window and showed it to the boys. Didn't think they'd like it 'as they were used to graphics, flames, simulations and such. Caleb did say, "This is pretty cool. I like the detail." |
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Discursive design,
Torby
Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 06:42 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Quote:
However, for a time, I spent Thursday evenings playing the 550 point version of Adventure at Colossal Cave.
If you liked that you would LOVE Elder Scrolls:Skyrim. I was just reviewing my game collection the other day and I have almost all the top 100 listed on metacritic.com for Xbox360 and like that site I'd agree that Skyrim is one of the best - in my opinion the very best computer game I've ever played. Before my console crashed I'd reached level 39 and was hitting people with an ebony warhammer doing more than 150 points of damage which was glorious! The depth of the graphics and gameplay are phenomenal. If you like to be a wizard or a warrior this is THE game.
Notable in my collection are also:
GTA IV
Bioshock
Orange Box
Read Dead Redemption
Batman - Arkham City and Asylum
GoW 1 & 2
Elder Scrolls:Oblivion
CoD4: MW
Halo 1 & 2 & 3
Mass Effect 2 & 3
Assasins Creed I & II & Brotherhood & Revelations
Ghost Recon
Dead Space
Fable II
Splinter Cell
Rainbow 6 Vegas
+ many othes
All great games - I've completed them all. |
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 06:45 PM |
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Joined: Apr 16, 2001
Posts: 3522
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| As I recall, the twisty little passages is a random maze. I had a similar thing happen with my boys, should them my games Kquest and Kquest II, test adventures games I wrote back in the 80's. Poor choice of names since people assume it's Kings Quest. Anyway my older boy dove in and played both games, the younger one went meh. |
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 07:04 PM |
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Joined: Sep 04, 2007
Posts: 356
Location: Oxford (England)
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My boys (7 & 9) are currently fighting (sometimes literally) to get on the Raspberry Pi to play Angband at the moment. The graphics are probably not (quite) up to skyrim standards, but it's kept them completely hooked for over a week so far (a long time for 7 & 9) and no sign of waning.
Good luck with retrieving your character, Cliff! |
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 07:08 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Quote:
Good luck with retrieving your character, Cliff!
Tell me about it! As my Xbox was not normally connected to the net (just for system updates every 6-12 months) my gamer profile is ONLY inside it. So I need it to work just long enough to copy the profile (and as many save games as I can find) onto a USB stick that I can then take to the new machine when it comes. It ended up costing me just £90 as I cashed in a load of Nectar points that had been accumulating from shopping at Sainsburys (seemed like as good a use as any!).
Be warned if you ever come to cash in Nectar points for Amazon vouchers that it really does take 3 days for the "electronic transfer" to happen (presumably it's printed out, sits on someone's desk and is then typed in again or something?). In those 3 days the Amazon price changed from £150 to £170 |
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 08:36 PM |
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Joined: Jan 03, 2006
Posts: 4417
Location: Hemel Hemsptead, UK
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Torby wrote:
I found a version for windows that played in a text window and showed it to the boys. Didn't think they'd like it 'as they were used to graphics, flames, simulations and such. Caleb did say, "This is pretty cool. I like the detail."
Try them with the Hitchhiker's Guide... http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/hitchhikers ... olan.shtml |
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Neil Barnes
www.nailed-barnacle.co.uk
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Posted: Jun 13, 2012 - 10:31 PM |
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Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 18596
Location: Lund, Sweden
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| Best game ever: Riven. 'Nuff sed! |
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Posted: Jun 14, 2012 - 08:05 AM |
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Joined: Apr 04, 2010
Posts: 185
Location: india
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Quote:
All great games - I've completed them all.
And you fly planes, you play with yamaha SY35 you work for amstrad.. and you still get time for the forum.. interesting.. (Should i consider you a robot or a super multiplexer(Time Domain))
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- Will find's a Way.
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Posted: Jun 14, 2012 - 03:33 PM |
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Joined: Nov 11, 2003
Posts: 3904
Location: Chicago Illinois USA
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Likely, he's just hyperthyroid |
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Discursive design,
Torby
Some days, it's just not worth chewing through the restraints.
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Posted: Jun 18, 2012 - 05:48 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Yeah I'm back playing Skyrim. To do this I'm indebted to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HF7BKCPK ... re=related
which shows how to use two cotton buds to make a "dead" Xbox work for a short while (real McGyver stuff!). It was long enough to get it to connect to Xbox Live where I used a "free Xbox Live Gold for a month" token I had to sign up and enable a "cloud drive" which then let me upload my important save games which I could then download to the replacement console (the gamer profile uploaded/downloaded automatically so I still have my 15,550 gamer points!) |
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Posted: Jun 18, 2012 - 07:19 PM |
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Joined: Dec 06, 2007
Posts: 2512
Location: Redmond, WA USA
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Larry
Those afraid to embrace the future will quickly fade into the past. - larryvc
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Posted: Jun 19, 2012 - 02:33 AM |
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Joined: Apr 16, 2001
Posts: 3522
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| So you jam the fans and somehow the xbox comes back to life? I don't see the logic behind that. |
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Posted: Jun 19, 2012 - 08:08 AM |
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Joined: Mar 27, 2002
Posts: 18596
Location: Lund, Sweden
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Quote:
So you jam the fans and somehow the xbox comes back to life? I don't see the logic behind that.
The code that hangs the box is asociated with some fan/temperature monitoring? |
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Posted: Jun 19, 2012 - 02:43 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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| What appears to happen withe the cotton buds is that because the fans are stalled the Xbox alternately tries activating each of the two fans in turn. Whether this somehow "frees" something I don't know (I'd expect them to be brushless anyway) but I ended up having to do it twice and both times it got the box running for another 15-20 minutes. It really did work (but not the claims in the comments of that video that it would then work for months more - a couple of power cycles and it goes permanently RRoD again). |
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Posted: Jun 19, 2012 - 03:36 PM |
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Joined: Apr 16, 2001
Posts: 3522
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| Sounds like the programmers put in a "All hell's breaking loose, grab what you can and get out" routine. Are there different Xbox styles? We have a hard drive that attaches to the side of the case. I've always assumed that everything is stored on the hard drive, so if we had the unit fail, I would simply attach the hard drive to a new unit and all our game information would now be on the new box. Apparently this isn't the case, at least for Cliff? |
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Posted: Jun 19, 2012 - 03:58 PM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Quote:
I would simply attach the hard drive to a new unit and all our game information would now be on the new box. Apparently this isn't the case, at least for Cliff?
There are protections in place to stop people just sharing round save games (for example) so they are tied to a gamer profile and it in turn is somehow tied to one or more consoles. There are mechanisms for transferring them (the Xbox cloud being one) and there's also the hard drive transfer cable shown here : http://www.xbox.com/en-GB/Xbox360/Acces ... Networking
I didn't fancy (a) paying for that cable and (b) waiting for it to be delivered - hence why I went with the cloud mechanism.
Now I would have used the USB memory stick transfer method (indeed I tried) but you have to partition the USB memory with a special Xbox area where it holds the encoded profile/save games in a supposedly non-readable format but when I tried this it said the card failed data verification test (even though I use it regularly and have never had a problem) so I'm not sure what the issue was.
One thing you will find even if innocently googling your options here is that there are programs that know how to read the "hidden" data and that can copy it and resign/rehash the data allowing things to be copied to other profiles/consoles - but while of academic interest but not practical interest to me I didn't explore further for the very reason that I couldn't get a USB stick to work anyway. |
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Posted: Jun 19, 2012 - 07:46 PM |
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Joined: Apr 16, 2001
Posts: 3522
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
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| Interesting info. My boys are the main users of that console so I'll have to see if they're aware of all that. They both have Live accounts so I guess they'll have to sort that out. |
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Posted: Jun 20, 2012 - 08:25 AM |
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Joined: Jul 18, 2005
Posts: 62365
Location: (using avr-gcc in) Finchingfield, Essex, England
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Quote:
They both have Live accounts so I guess they'll have to sort that out.
If they aer permanent accounts then simply enable cloud storage and it won't matter if any part of the console - even the HDD itself dies as all the important stuff will be stored in the cloud. |
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