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[img width=300 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-026/bf/U-026-H-00010-A.jpg[/img]In 1982, Emerson Radio Corporation decided to enter the video game hardware arena with their release of the Arcadia 2001. Better known for their development of affordable electronic products, this move was not entirely a big surprise. Emerson was always looking for market niches to penetrate to utilize their existing electronics manufacturing team. As with their previous releases of low-end, price friendly electrical component ventures, the Arcadia 2001 would eventually suffer the same fate.
The Arcadia 2001 is not necessarily a bad looking machine. The sturdy, brown plastic housing has a nice accent of wood grain trimming (which was very popular at that time). The console sports a very clean user interface, located in the front and center of the unit. Soft, rounded, gold colored buttons provide easy access to the main systems functions (Reset, Select, Option, Start). The square shaped Power button that flanks these buttons to the right does not really quite fit into the scheme - almost as if this was an afterthought of the chassis design team. The two, non-detachable keypads (Intellivision-type clone) rest in cradles to the left and right, though do not truly fit visually into the design of the console (maybe another afterthought). The Arcadia 2001 does sport one of the longest video RF cables I have seen - 12' long. The plug for the 12 Volt external power supply and a channel 3/4 switch adorn the back side of this system. There are two (2) screw 'holes' on the back as well. I have no idea what these are used for.
Underneath the hood, the Arcadia 2001 was powered by Signetics 2650 CPU running at 3.58 MHz which produced games in 8 colors and at a screen resolution of 208 x 108. The best way to describe games for the Arcadia 2001 is to think of an Atari 2600 release and inject it with a heavy does of steroids. The Arcadia 2001 was a more powerful machine that the console it was intended to dethrone, but Emerson lacked a critical component for success in the console wars - third party support.
[img width=300 align=right]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/hardware/U-026/bb/U-026-H-00010-A.jpg[/img]Cartridges came in two different sizes and are black in color (USA) with well rendered artwork adorning the front of the cart (almost like a mini water color painting) and game instructions on the back. The title is displayed along the 'spine' of the cartridge in easy to read 'rainbow' lettering. The silver colored boxes are similar in size to the Atari 2600, but much more sturdy and are handsomely numbered. Many games come packaged with a controller overlay identical to the same concept used by Intellivision. A number of popular games were developed for the Arcadia 2001, including Pacman, Galaxian and Defender. Atari successfully sued Emerson, and other companies, claiming they had exclusive rights to these game franchises. These games never saw the light of day and resulted in a waste of a great deal of capital. This left Emerson scrambling for suitor(s) to develop game software. With the Atari 5200 and the Coleco Colecovision about to be released, both being superior systems, development for the Arcadia 2001 was non existent. A total of 35 games (most arcade clones) were released for this system. Surprising, this console was manufactured and released in many different countries outside of the USA. All are basically the same, but differ in one significant way - cartridge size. Games are not necessarily compatible with all systems.
Development for the Arcadia 2001 ceased about one year after it's debut. Unable to compete with technologically superior consoles that were released at virtually the same time (Atari 5200 and Coleco ColecoVision) coupled with the lack of third party software support sealed this system's fate.
Prices seem to fluctuate greatly on this system and appear to be dependant on the respective model. Though this console was a relative failure and a mere blip on the radar, it is not that rare and can be easily obtained.
The link to the full review of this system (including ratings, pictures and video):
http://www.videogameconso...rary.com/pg80-arcadia.htm
Thanks all.
Terry (a.k.a. Marriott_Guy)
The Video Game Console Library
http://www.videogameconsolelibrary.com
Good God, this development took a really, really long time to materialize. You know, Konami has been pretty active in the rhythm genre, and ruled Japan with its Bemani series. Dance Dance Revolution. Guitar Freaks. Drummania. Beatmania. Certainly, Bemani is popular in the Land of the Rising Sun, but stateside, only DDR really has taken off. Sure, there is in fact a stateside version of Beatmania, but it wouldn't say anything other than DDR has taken off here. Have you seen Drummania or Guitar Freaks in the states? Guitar Freaks may have seen a PS1 release, but I certainly have not it. It is almost as though Konami dropped the ball on that one.
Where Konami dropped the ball, Harmonix picked it and scored big time. Guitar Hero, Rock Band, they certainly have had their share of winners. See, Harmonix was, and still is, very successful in the rhythm business. Four or so years later, Konami has finally figured out that Harmonix's devices are a bit close to those of Guitar Freaks and Drummania. Hmm, you don't say? Great job noticing, Konami. You know, the likeness between the peripherals is uncanny. Why didn't Konami do this earlier? I guess they can get more damages now, if they win, and given how similar the peripherals are I certainly expect them to.
Konami Sues Harmonix Because Rock Band is Fun [Dtoid] [IMAGE]
[img align=right width=150]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/63014CG7.jpg[/img]
As you may or may not know, I tend to be skewed towards the world of Nintendo. I grew up on Nintendo, I supported Nintendo up to the Wii, and once the Wii was released Nintendo decided to defecate on every member of the Nintendo old guard and try to appeal to that elusive casual gamer. They’re doing a great job, they really are. Meanwhile, I really, really want LittleBigPlanet, and well, we all know what system that is on. But yes! The Nintendo Connection! You see, the Wii has the dubious distinction of being home to more crap than one can shake a finger at. Strike that, one hundred billion fingers. The more depressing thing is that people are buying this stuff. It’s really, really disappointing, and I’ll tell you why.
Continue reading The Cynical Gamer #7: Crap
 Bungie sure does have a fascination with the number "7". Their forum is named the "Seventh Column", and various exponents of 7 hold high, even religious significance in many of their games. Would it surprise you then that on this date last year, 07/07/07 would have some special meaning. Well, they held their first "Bungie Day", but also officially competed the #6 task in their 7-Step Plan for World Domination (stage bloody coup of new parent company). Yet, the world wouldn't know of this deed until October of 2007. Now having been enlightened by the knowledge of their independence, we can truly celebrate a future not bound exclusively to Microsoft and the billion dollar donut!
Are we, the fans, the only ones to cheer? Of course not! Bungie is returning the favor with a special download. A set of Bungie-styled Gamerpics and Theme will be available for download one day only. An extra bonus for Halo 3 players is the free map "Cold Storage", a remake of the classic "Chill Out" from the original Halo: Combat Evolved.
"Chill Out" plays more on the Forerunner theme, with a sprinkle of Flood contamination. Gameplay holds fairly true to the original with focus placed on controlling the sniper, rockets and invisibility power-up. Online matchmaking will also be updated to require the new maps for playlists currently requiring the Legendary Map Pack. Since the new map is free, this shouldn't be a problem. If that isn't enough incentive, the Legendary Map Pack is getting a new price of 600 MS points.
Video of the new map after the break...
Continue reading Happy Bungie Day!
Looks like 2K Games pulled a fast one on us this week!
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Beijing Olympics 2008
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | •Beijing Olympics 2008
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution
•Unreal Tournament 3 | •Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon
•Purr Pals (if you buy this, you are part of the problem, not the solution)
•Wonder World Amusement Park | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •Carnival Games
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | ... |
 Apparently Civ Rev is coming out this week instead of last week. Again, it's my pick of the week because the demo I played on the PS3 is pretty fun if you're a strategy game fan. The PC versions of the game are better, yes, but there's really nothing else like it on a console right now. Give it a shot by downloading the demo on your 360 or PS3 and see what you think.
Also of note this week, Unreal Tournament 3, the latest installment in Epic's long-running shooter franchise, hits the Xbox 360. The game came out about 7 or 8 months ago on the PS3 and PC...and didn't sell verry many copies on either system. Now Epic is going to try their luck on the Xbox 360 where it might do better since shooters sell very well on that system and they already have a huge fanbase from Gears of War. Hopefully it does well enough for Epic to consider supporting the game even more on the other platforms. Even though the 360 edition is lacking custom mod support and mouse/keyboard control, I highly recommend picking it up if you're looking for a fun, fast-paced, old-school shooter.
All in all, this was a terrible week for treasure hunting.
On Thursday, I got my first paycheck of the summer worth over $500 so I figured I'd go on a little spending spree this weekend. Boy, was I wrong. Since Friday was a holiday I didn't have to work so I went to maybe a dozen garage sales, I was hoping for more but because it was a holiday not many people were having sales. I couldn't find a single thing worth buying.
Saturday wasn't much better. After a night of drinking on Friday, I left for home bright and early at 7:00 AM so I could get all the sales. Unfortunately, there was only a couple dozen sales listed and they were spread out pretty far. Ironically, the one sale I did buy something at wasn't even in the paper, we just happened to pass it on the way to another sale.
This woman had a little store set up in her garage; a lot of kids toys/clothes but a good selection of 80's/90's stuff. I found a small pile of games that I wanted.
Unfortunately, once I got home, I added them to my collection database, and put them away before taking pictures or making a list. From looking at all my games now, I think I have list of what I bought yesterday and took a picture of them but there may have been one or two others.
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9738.jpg[/img]
2 copies of Mario Paint (loose, amazing that I've been looking for this game since I started collecting and when I find it, there are two of them)
Mr. Do! (loose)
Bubsy (CIB)
Eternal Champions (CIB) I only bought it because my checklist I carry with me said I only had a loose copy, once I got home I realized I already had it CIB.
Last Battle (boxed)
Wonder Boy in Monster World (CIB)
Target Earth (CIB)
Zoom (CIB)
B.O.B (CIB)
The flea market today was pretty bad too for some reason. The weather was absolutely beautiful but there weren't a lot of vendors or buyers. One of the first spots had a guy with tons of games, he had 3 huge boxes in front. Two said "everything in box, $50" which one had probably 15-20 classic systems, dozens of broken/really dirty controllers and couple games as well as other miscellaneous electronics, the other contained newer "for parts" system/controllers. I would have bought the first box but there weren't any hookups in the boxes or at least not nearly enough for all the systems. The third box contained 7 NES systems for $50.
The rest of the market was pretty much the same old overpriced junk. Until I spotted a box on a table with a sign "91 Atari games, $25" I went over to it only to find 85 copies of Combat (the other 6 were other commons). I thought about buying them because they were sealed but I figured if this guy had this many then they must not be worth much. He said I could have them for $10 after I offered $1 but I don't really want that many copies of one game.
I didn't find a single thing to buy until one of the last vendors:
[img width=700 height=524]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9736.jpg[/img]
When I saw the games, I knew they would be cheap just by the way the stand was set up, but I thought it'd be a "all for $5" type deal (there was 15-20 other games), but they were priced individually. I paid $10 for all 4, a little more than I would have liked but I'm a sucker for gold NES games.
I also got four 4-packs of Duracell AAA batteries for $2. They were mixed in box that was "anything for $0.50 each or fill a box for $3" The guy said he didn't even realize the batteries were in there. I tried finding some more stuff from him so I could just get a box for $3, but he had nothing interesting.
Previously, I had made an article talking about how Europe tends to get screwed when it comes to receiving games. The truth is, they really do. They didn't get Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger. Those poor, poor souls. Hopefully Chrono Trigger DS will make it there for them. And Earthbound? Wow, it's almost as though the RPG loving God has it out for our European friends. Well, it seems so terrible, right? Well, it turns out that Europe sometimes does not get the shaft. Sometimes, it's actually North America that gets screwed. Don't believe me? Well, let's take a look.
Continue reading This Article Proves that Sometimes, America also gets the Shaft
[img width=500 height=328]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/72032CTDS.jpg[/img]
Kotaku posted it as rumor, a juicy juicy rumor to come out of Jump Magazine. Now, a tipster sends in a link to the Game Countdown Page. Holy, holy shit. Did I mention Holy Shit? I know I am the Site Director, but damn, it's real. It's real. Pop the Champagne, we've been waiting for a trip back to the Chrono Trigger Universe for a while. Can you blame us? It's been a long time. and we've missed you, Chrono.
Countdown Site [Square Enix, thanks Kevin!]
Light week. Nothing very good at all really. One game might be pretty cool but that's about it really.
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Hail to the Chimp
•Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | •Hail to the Chimp
•Gears of War Refresh
•Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
•Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution | •Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
•Purr Pals (if you buy this, you are part of the problem, not the solution) | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | | ... | •1 VS. 100
•AMF Bowling Pinbusters
•Ducati Moto
•Smart Kids Game Club
•Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2 | •Guitar Hero: Aerosmith |
It's the 4th of July. Go buy some fireworks instead of games. But Civilization Revolution looks cool if you're into that kind of thing. Not sure if it is? Download the demo from the Playstation Store or Xbox Live. I did it, and I must say it was pretty nifty. Didn't get a chance to play much of it, but it I liked what I played. Oh and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith comes out this week for all two people that care. Enjoy your game with effing Aerosmith (uggghhh). For the rest of us, Rock Band 2 has been announced.
*Note: the views of Tony are those of himself and do not represent the views of anyone else. If you have a problem with it, please direct complaints to the OH NOOOO Otter.*
[img align=right width=250]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/90401ohnootter2.jpg[/img]It seems as though some of you are pretty excited. Personally I am excited. It's certainly a throw back to retro roots, with graphics meant to imitate the original NES Mega Mans. In short, it's pretty damn cool, and hopefully the game play comes through. Time shall tell in that regard.
I imagine most of you expect Capcom to release this on all console digital distribution formats. Certainly, I sure did. You might notice that I said did. Yeah, about that... Kotaku and Ars both though have some troubling news. It appears that for you Sony and 360 Owners, Capcom currently does not desire your money, as it says that Mega Man 9 is only in development for WiiWare. Wow, that's a... shocker.
To mark this development, it's time to bring out the OH NOOOO! Otter. I imagine that lots of you really would like the opportunity to get this game, but have found their prospects of getting this retro odyssey somewhat... dashed. Perhaps Capcom has been misquoted, and meant to say it'll come out for other systems later. Perhaps they really meant what is being reported by folks like Luke Plunkett. You know, he writes for Kotaku, so he is part of that bunch of respectable game bloggers, so they wouldn't wrongly state something, would they? Well, regardless, the OH NOOOO! Otter feels your pain. Since I can't feel your pain because I own a Wii, at least the OH NOOOO! Otter can.
Mega Man 9: Wii Ware ONLY [Kotaku] [IMAGE]
Not a bad weekend, although the garage saling ended quite abruptly on Saturday.
The very first house of the day didn't seem to have much at all, but I glanced at the rack of books to see there was something decent (I've never been much of a reader, but recently I bought a Zeppelin book to read during the slow times at work and have gotten 300 of the 400 pages read in a couple days, so I was looking for something new) when I spotted these marked $0.50 each:
[img width=650 height=486]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9599.jpg[/img]
I paid $1 for them all. I started reading one of them, but got bored by page 4.
A few houses later had box full of NES games marked "2 for $1", I looked through them and there was only a handful that I needed, but the others were good titles. I offered $5 for everything, she accepted (a little too quickly actually, I probably could have gotten it cheaper).
[img width=650 height=486]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9597.jpg[/img]
Amazingly, this would be the most expensive purchase of the day.
Everything in the top 2 rows except Mickey Mouse is for sale.
The next house had a few PS2 games on the table, mostly ones I had or I wasn't interested in all were $3 each. I only picked up one:
[img width=650 height=486]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9600.jpg[/img]
Under the table, though, was a box of N64 stuff marked reasonably at $35, easily $50 worth of stuff but I passed anyway. They also had a boxed PS2 for $30, passed on it too.
At one of the last houses, the woman said everything had to go, so I new we could make some deals, but there wasn't much left. All I got was:
[img width=650 height=486]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9601.jpg[/img]
All for $2 (The SNES/N64 RF cord was $2, everything else was $1 each). Again, she accepted my offer too quickly, I could have had it for less. I really need to start my offers lower.
Right before this sale, we picked up some free firewood along the curb and took it home before continuing the garage saling. After we unloaded it, we went back out for round #2, which ended quicker than I would have liked. We came out from a garage sale and when I turned the key, nothing happened. The damn truck wouldn't start.
Now, this happened to me the other day when I was at the store, I had it towed home, my dad and I cleaned the connections on the starter and it started fine probably 100 times until this time. So, we had it towed again. My dad walked to another nearby sale because AAA said it would be an hour before the tow truck got there, but it was more like 5 minutes. So he had to run back before we left him.
Flea market on Sunday wasn't bad at all. There were a lot of people not at the flea market because it looked like it was going to rain, but it held off until after noon so I managed to get some deals.
For $2 each I got:
[img width=650 height=486]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9603.jpg[/img]
All stuff I needed, even some "rare" games in there. Strider is missing the manual unfortunately. Crystalis had some major dirt issues, but it's squeaky clean now.
For the first time in a couple weeks, the guy I trade with was set up while I was there so I was able to make a pretty good deal. I traded a loose Super Mario 64 for:
[img width=650 height=486]http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j22/Mike_2_0_0_6/Game%20Collection/2008%20Scores/DSCN9602.jpg[/img]
Madden '93 is CIB, but the other is missing the manual but has the poster. I didn't really want the Maddens but I would have traded just for the other stuff so they were free in my eyes.
The dumbass that is Adam Anderson had to use some permanent marker that will NOT come off, and he just HAD to write his name on there twice too.
You know, I thought the "Mega Man 9 will be done in 8-bit graphics" was an exaggeration. Something... lost in translation. Those things happen. That's why we say crazy Japanese translations like "SUPER HAPPY CRAZY FUN TIME". But you know, Mega Man 9. Wow, was it for real? Surely someone was jerking our chain, Capcom would never go back to revisit a class style of game, would they? Eh? EH?
WRONG! Turns out Mega Man 9 is very, very real. Complete with robot masters like Magma Man and my personal favorite, Concrete Man. More importantly, they weren't lying when they said it would be in 8-bit graphics. It really, really is. A part of me is saying WTF, while the other 4/5 says "Holy shit that's awesome!" Seriously, absolutely awesome, like "I AM BUYING THAT" awesome. Truly, Mega Man 9 has the potential to be quite the throw back to old school Mega Man. Here's to that. By the way, pictures can be seen at Kotaku
Old School Mega Man 9 Coming To WiiWare [Kotaku]
As you may or may not know, Tondog is a huge fan of MGS4. If he could, he'd probably have Kojima's babies. Unfortunately, or fortunately for him, he is a guy, and such a thing is physically impossible. That said, lots of people bought MGS4, including Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw. See, Yahztee does Zero Punctuation, which in the realm of the internet geared towards gamers is absolutely hilarious. Today, Yahtzee is reviewing Metal Gear Solid 4, and well... why don't you watch it for yourself.
So, what'd you think? Personally, I am part of the group not currently already entrenched in Metal Gear Solid, so I think I'll follow this advice and just not play the game. Not really my cup of tea anyways. But then, I don't drink tea. What about you? Did Yahtzee strike a nerve, or do you wholeheartedly agree?
[img align=right width=250]http://www.rfgeneration.com/images/repository/59727nights.jpg[/img]Wow, this is sort of sad. Nights, the game that a lot of fans asked for, came out, was declared mediocre, and now can be found new for $2.99. Of course, you have to live by a Meijer, which for those not in the know is a nicer, Midwest version of Wal-Mart. I have one three minutes from my house, and there is another Meijer probably 10 minutes from my house, if not less. Will I go out of my way to get this game on the cheap? Nah, that's alright, the game didn't really interest me, but perhaps you are and you live near a Meijer. If that is the case, then go buy your game on the cheap.
Did Nights really do that poorly? I've heard it sold 100000 copies, which is more than some other games, like Boom Blox. Does it deserve the $2.99 price tag, or is Meijer giving this game the shaft? It might be on clearance now, but regardless, this price tag is almost disgracefully low. Someone must have it out for this game at Meijer HQ. Perhaps their son told them it was stupid. That's just too bad.
Also, before you ask, no, I am not going to go buy the game for you.
Come on…Nights is worth more than this… [GoNintendo]
What the hell happened this week? Is it last fall again? Goddamn...
| Playstation 3 | Xbox 360 | Nintendo Wii | •Battlefield: Bad Company
•Hail to the Chimp
•Hellboy: Science of Evil
•Overlord Raising Hell
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | •Alone in the Dark
•Battlefield: Bad Company
•Hail to the Chimp
•Hellboy: Science of Evil
•Operation Darkness
•Supreme Commander
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | •Big Beach Sports
•Rock Band (This is actually out already. I think I missed it on last week's list.)
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | | PSP | Nintendo DS | Playstation 2 | •Hellboy: Science of Evil
•Naruto Ultimate Ninja Heroes 2: The Phantom Fortress
•Wall-E | •American Girl: Kit Mystery Challenge
•Cake Mania 2
•Code Lyoko: Fall of XANA
•Final Fantasy Tactics A2
•Gourmet Chef
•Guitar Hero: On Tour
•Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Ninja
•Mega Man Star Force 2 Zerker X Saurian
•Midnight Play Pack
•My Weight Loss Coach
•Smart Kids Game Club
•Top Spin 3
•Wall-E | •Wall-E |
 There's far too many games coming out this week, but what's worth checking out? Alone in the Dark and Overlord Raising Hell look pretty neat. Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Top Spin 3, and Supreme Commander have been getting great reviews, but I would recommend Battlefield: Bad Company above all the other games this week. If you haven't seen anything about the game it's basically a wartime FPS, but unlike most other games of this type (Call of Duty 4 for example) it is actually pretty lighthearted in tone and contains a good amount of humor. The gameplay is like many other FPS games, so it's nothing completely new, but it's still very fun. If you're interested, give the demo a chance on either the Playstation Network or Xbox Live.
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