Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? [[wow]], I bet those were fun times. Maybe itd be cool if we could make a BNS driver for NVDA, or make an eSpeak voice out of it or something, but I doubt that anyone has those things or theyre selling them by now since that unit is so old, but has fond memories all over it. Yes, the voices were cool and we could make it do funny things. I remember when I was in first grade, I made my Braille n Speak sound like it had a seizure, lol. It got so funny that I literally laughed outloud. I was using headphones at the time, and my teacher was wondering why I laughed. I took my headphones off and unplugged the headphone jack from the headphone port on my BNS, and shortly there after, I showed it to her, and the entire classroom laughed with me. I had this saved under the name, seizure. I still have that file to this day on my computers hard drive, and I dont know about deleting it or not. I dont know what synth they were using when they mad e the BNS, maybe it was their own, or a different one. All I know was that the newer models used DoubleTalk. I recreated my seizure file on the newer BNS units, but sadly, it wasnt funny like it once was. I was like, Uh, no comment. I also used the older units to do prank calls. My older brother would sometimes prank call someone, and I would sometimes bring my BNS with me, and I would make it do lots of wacky things. I remember the first time I heard my favorite synthesizer, Eloquence. It was on an old machine, not JAWS, but rather, it was back when Eloquent Technology wasnt acquired by Nuance. It sounded different back then. It had a more robotic sound, and I heard it in a store, I cant remember when, but it was used in a cash register, using the voice Reed. There were other languages that some of us never heard of for Eloquence, like Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, that I wish werent so hard to find for us to use. I also heard a few voices from Lernout Hauspie, like TruVoice, TTS3000, etc. Since then, I used Eloquence in most of my chiptune performances, but people keep wondering what that voice was, unaware it is Eloquence, particularly Reed, Sandy, Glen, and Bobby. Theres a rumor that keeps going around that Eloquence will be on iOS. Is this true? Anyway, back on topic, I even remember DECtalk back then. I had the hardware version of the synthesizer, but sadly I dont have it anymore. I also had my first video game system, the NES. My first game I played on it was Super Mario Bros. It was a fun game, and I then had other NES games that I was able to buy either when I got good grades, did something good, for my birthday, or Christmas. I currently have 80 of them, my favorites being Batman, Mega Man, Mario, Ninja Gaiden, there are too many of them to name! I just wish Eloquence was used in other things, not just technology, as that synth brought back good memories first time I heard it. First computer I us ed was a Windows 2000 PC running JAWS 7. I still have my Win 2000 boot disk, and now I have XP and 2000 on the same machine, running NVDA and JAWS on each.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=169150#p169150 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Yes indeed, I had both a Braille N Speak and a Type N Speak. Those were fun days. I was enrolled in a summer jobs program a few years ago, that is no longer in existence due to funding issues. But anyway, my brother was enrolled in the same program. I had my Braille N Speak at the time, and I can remember sitting in class one morning during a break, and I thought it would be fun to raise the pitch and frequency as high as they would go. Well, for some reason it stayed there and refused to come back down. It was great. It sounded kinda like someone was yelling and breaking glass at the same time. I I think that was the end of my BNS. But I also remember the alarm on those things. It was pretty cool. A friend of mine who is legally blind and still has a little bit of remaining vision, was actually kicked out of the Chicago Lighthouse just for fulling around with a speech synthesizer. She was asked never to come back, and still to this day I feel bad for her. But th e rehab programs there were a bunch of crap anyway.Regarding laptops, I think the one I have now is by far the lightest Ive ever seen. It is a Mac Book Air. This is my first Mac, and I love it. VoiceOver is super responsive and does a nice job. Alexs breathing is a bit creepy. A sister of mine just got a Mac Book Air as well, but hers is a bit smaller still. These things are amazing! I actually kept the case from my Dell laptop. I still have that laptop, but the motherboard fried and my life-skills tutor and I are going to get rid of just the laptop soon. Hes been talking to me about some places he knows of where we might take it, but he has to rent a vehicle since his truck passed away last summer. But I cant believe how fast these Macs boot up. tward wrote:Oh, I definitely do miss my Braille N Speaks. They seem rather clunky to the tech we have now, but back in the early to mid 90s the y were a must have item for a blind student. I got my first BNS Classic in 7th grade, used it a couple of years, upgraded to a BNS 640K in 9th grade, and finished with a BNS 2000 in college. Sadly, all of them are dead now, and I am not even sure where they are or if I even have any of them around.However, while I preferred using computers for serious work I liked my Braille N Speaks because they were very portable, I could literally take them anywhere, and they usually stayed charge for 24-hours or so. I could spend hours writing stories on the Braille N Speak or playing various games for the BNS such as Hangman, Simon, Mine Sweeper, Solitaire, etc. Plus the one thing that made the BNS so essential back then is that laptops were not really that portable or versatile if you were a blind user. Back in the 90s if someone purchased a laptop with say Win 95 on it they still had to get Jaws for Windows, they had to get an external synthesizer like a Dectalk Expre ss, and between the hardware and software one could expect to pay well over $3,000 for an accessible laptop which as I said wasnt very portable compared to a Braille N Speak. I actually had a Fujitsu Lifebook with a Dectalk Express and it was a pain lugging the computer around, having to plug an external synthesizer in to the com port, and usually having to use a full sized keyboard just to use the Jaws cursor keys because the laptop Jaws keys back then were extremely confusing. So in comparison laptops were not very accessible at all. They took up too much room and required to many extra pieces of hardware to be portable. Where the BNS weighed one pound, was small, compact, and could easily slip into a backpack or could be carried with its special carrying case.Ironically, while laptops are obviously much more portable and more speech friendly today than they were back in the mid 90s I see instances where a BNS would be useful. For example, I might be at the grocery store and I want to check my shopping list. With a BNS all I had to do was flip the unit on and when it booted up it would automatically open the file last accessed making it easy for taking and reviewing notes. Where with a laptop one has to boot the computer, bring up the documents folder, find the shopping list, and open it in Notepad etc. A laptop still isnt as efficient at quick and dirty note taking such as writing down shopping lists and reviewing them in the middle of a store. I guess that is where smartphones etc come in.However, their practical use isnt the only reason I miss the Braille N Speaks. The voices were very robotic, but could be made to say and do some very funny things. One of the most funny instances I can think of is one of the students at my school dropped her Braille N Speak picked it up and it wouldnt come on. So she tried a warm reset and when the BNS came on it gave the usual Braille N Spea k ready message, but it sounded demon possessed or something. As it was saying the words the voice went from high to low and low to high in pitch while speaking it in an extremely slow monotone
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Yes indeed, I had both a Braille N Speak and a Type N Speak. Those were fun days. I was enrolled in a summer jobs program a few years ago, that is no longer in existence due to funding issues. But anyway, my brother was enrolled in the same program. I had my Braille N Speak at the time and I can remember sitting in class one morning during a break, and I thought it would be fun to raise the pitch and frequency as high as they would go. Well, for some reason it stayed there and refused to come back down. It was great. It sounded kinda like someone was yelling and breaking glass at the same time. I think that was the end of my BNS. But I also remember the alarm on those things. It was pretty cool. A friend of mine who is legally blind and still has a little bit of remaining vision, was actually kicked out of the Chicago Lighthouse just for fulling around with a speech synthesizer. She was asked never to come back, and still to this day I feel bad for her. But the r ehab programs there were a bunch of crap anyway.Regarding laptops, I think the one I have now is by far the lightest Ive ever seen. It is a Mac Book Air. This is my first Mac, and I love it. VoiceOver is super responsive and does a nice job. Alexs breathing is a bit creepy. A sister of mine just got a Mac Book Air as well, but hers is a bit smaller still. These things are amazing! I actually kept the case from my Dell laptop. I still have that laptop, but the motherboard fried and my life-skills tutor and I are going to get rid of just the laptop soon. Hes been talking to me about some places he knows of where we might take it, but he has to rent a vehicle since his truck passed away last summer. But I cant believe how fast these Macs boot up. tward wrote:Oh, I definitely do miss my Braille N Speaks. They seem rather clunky to the tech we have now, but back in the early to mid 90s they w ere a must have item for a blind student. I got my first BNS Classic in 7th grade, used it a couple of years, upgraded to a BNS 640K in 9th grade, and finished with a BNS 2000 in college. Sadly, all of them are dead now, and I am not even sure where they are or if I even have any of them around.However, while I preferred using computers for serious work I liked my Braille N Speaks because they were very portable, I could literally take them anywhere, and they usually stayed charge for 24-hours or so. I could spend hours writing stories on the Braille N Speak or playing various games for the BNS such as Hangman, Simon, Mine Sweeper, Solitaire, etc. Plus the one thing that made the BNS so essential back then is that laptops were not really that portable or versatile if you were a blind user. Back in the 90s if someone purchased a laptop with say Win 95 on it they still had to get Jaws for Windows, they had to get an external synthesizer like a Dectalk Express, and between the hardware and software one could expect to pay well over $3,000 for an accessible laptop which as I said wasnt very portable compared to a Braille N Speak. I actually had a Fujitsu Lifebook with a Dectalk Express and it was a pain lugging the computer around, having to plug an external synthesizer in to the com port, and usually having to use a full sized keyboard just to use the Jaws cursor keys because the laptop Jaws keys back then were extremely confusing. So in comparison laptops were not very accessible at all. They took up too much room and required to many extra pieces of hardware to be portable. Where the BNS weighed one pound, was small, compact, and could easily slip into a backpack or could be carried with its special carrying case.Ironically, while laptops are obviously much more portable and more speech friendly today than they were back in the mid 90s I see instances where a BNS would be useful. For example, I might be at the grocery store and I want to check my shopping list. With a BNS all I had to do was flip the unit on and when it booted up it would automatically open the file last accessed making it easy for taking and reviewing notes. Where with a laptop one has to boot the computer, bring up the documents folder, find the shopping list, and open it in Notepad etc. A laptop still isnt as efficient at quick and dirty note taking such as writing down shopping lists and reviewing them in the middle of a store. I guess that is where smartphones etc come in.However, their practical use isnt the only reason I miss the Braille N Speaks. The voices were very robotic, but could be made to say and do some very funny things. One of the most funny instances I can think of is one of the students at my school dropped her Braille N Speak picked it up and it wouldnt come on. So she tried a warm reset and when the BNS came on it gave the usual Braille N Speak r eady message, but it sounded demon possessed or something. As it was saying the words the voice went from high to low and low to high in pitch while speaking it in an extremely slow monotone
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Well Im afraid while I briefly used a braille n speak (though which version I dont know), when I was 13, I really didnt take to the thing at all. In fairness I never had any games, but I just found the voice robotic to the point of being hard to understand, and the commands a little confusing. I Likely wouldve got used to the machine accept that someone running around the classroom managed to run between my bns and the wall, and actually managed to snap the double end of the power lead where it went into the bns. Bang went about a fortnights work, and bang pretty much went the bns as well. I then switched to a toshiba laptop running Windows 3.1 and Supernova. It had a perminant acapella box plugged in, but sinse I didnt ever remove it and had a case that held it I never really worried about plugging it in or not. With portability, well after years of lugging around a perkins braille and a massive holdall full of all my braille folders for school, a laptop was actually a relief Of I never really was that interested in any of those devices. They were just for writing work for school on and it never occurred to me that they might do something as fun as play games sinse I considdered games as the soul province of consoles. Indeed, the most fun I had out of a computer for a very long time was when I started playing DD when i was17, wed tracked down all the second edition manuals in ms word format, and I wrote character sheets. that was in 1999, on an Acer which original ran with a very obscure screen reader called winvision and an external speech box running perfect paul, though amusingly the box broke about six months after I had the laptop and I ended up going back to supernova which at that point no longer needed external speech and came with orphius as standard.Even when i first got the internet, I ne ver really considdered computers could do anything fun until i found the address of whitestick.co.uk and tried some online games like Logd and ashes of angels. Indeed it seems weerd to me now that I didnt even know how to install a program until I tried out shades of doom for the first time. Regarding notes however, I had a wonderful little machine, the parrot voicemate that was fantstic for that. I could just speak voice memos and play them, and it was fantastic for holding phone numbers, addresses and such. It was also an amazingly tough little machine, I used my first one from 2001 to 2007, and when I got a second one I used it from then until 2012 when the doors broke. Ironically, my voicemate broke litterally one week after I bought my Iphone! I loved that voicemate, it went everywhere with me, including griece, Ireland and Egypt and got me out of some sticky situations. Indeed, t he chief reason up until i got my Iphone that I never bothered with speech on a phone is that all the contacts and holding information functions of the earlier generation of mobile phones I could do on the voicemate, and sinse I had a bog standard nockier phone that I could turn on, type in a number and ring I was quite happy.I will say taking notes is another thing my Iphone is great for, albeit I didnt buy it for that function specifically, more for the games etc. I can simply tell Siri to take a note of shopping list, and have it displayed, ditto with appointments and reminders which can be really helpful.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=168475#p168475 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Ill have to take another look at Klango then. I thought that since the developers just abandoned it, it wouldnt work that great anymore. I found the software rather buggy in some areas, especially toward the end there.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=168417#p168417 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Heres a few things that I miss. I really miss the old Braille n Speak. That was my foray into the notetaking community as we know it today. So many good memories about that notetaker, from the robotic voice, to its vast array of features at the time, everything. When I got my Braille n Speak back in the first grade, I was very happy when I got it. I thought to myself, This could be my paper and pencil! I used it to take notes, write down some important assignment answers, and I often took it to long trips. That thing crashed, and I upgraded to a Braille n Speak 2000, which I didnt find any difference in it, although I found some fixes in some crashes that I experienced. That one crashed, and I then got a third one, which was my last BNS unit. It had DoubleTalk as its speech synthesizer. I liked it because it was more clearer and understandable, but I didnt like its very few voice customization options. In previous versions, you had s o many values for speed, volume, and pitch. Did they do that in the newer version? No! I had very few values for each setting, nine values for speed, volume, and pitch. On the upside, it did give me the option of choosing voices, which I liked. I often used Vader or Perfect Paul. But I quickly loss interest in that one and prefered the old voice over the new one. Dont get me wrong, I like DoubleTalk, but not on the Braille n Speak. I then went over to a more advanced notetaker, the original Braille Plus, no, not the Icon, but the Braille Plus. I used it for six years, but when I got my Braille Plus 18, it was bye-bye to the small Braille Plus. I regret taking that unit back. The fact it had Eloquence (which I like), the media player was easier to use, and the recorder was easier to use. I want Eloquence back! You know, this motivated me to think about porting Eloquence to Android, but I dont know any programming whatsoever. But on the upside for the BP18, it DID ha ve IVONA, which I liked as well, and I could install more than one TTS engine, mostly due to the fact it was running Android. It also had a 18-cell refreshable Braille display, which is the first time I used and felt a Braille display. Man, I miss those notetakers. How I wish I could get them back. Hey, that reminds me. Wouldnt it be cool to have a notetaker emulator, similar to a virtual machine client?URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=168431#p168431 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Heres a few things that I miss. I really miss the old Braille n Speak. That was my foray into the notetaking community as we know it today. So many good memories about that notetaker, from the robotic voice, to its vast array of features at the time, everything. When I got my Braille n Speak back in the first grade, I was very happy when I got it. I thought to myself, This could be my paper and pencil! I used it to take notes, write down some important assignment answers, and I often took it to long trips. That thing crashed, and I upgraded to a Braille n Speak 2000, which I didnt find any difference in it, although I found some fixes in some crashes that I experienced. That one crashed, and I then got a third one, which was my last BNS unit. It had DoubleTalk as its speech synthesizer. I liked it because it was more clearer and understandable, but I didnt like its very few voice customization options. In previous versions, you had s o many values for speed, volume, and pitch. Did they do that in the newer version? No! I had very few values for each setting, nine values for speed, volume, and pitch. On the upside, it did give me the option of choosing voices, which I liked. I often used Vader or Perfect Paul. But I quickly loss interest in that one and prefered the old voice over the new one. Dont get me wrong, I like DoubleTalk, but not on the Braille n Speak. I then went over to a more advanced notetaker, the original Braille Plus, no, not the Icon, but the Braille Plus. I used it for six years, but when I got my Braille Plus 18, it was bye-bye to the small Braille Plus. I regret taking that unit back. The fact it had Eloquence (which I like), the media player was easier to use, and the recorder was easier to use. But on the upside for the BP18, it DID have IVONA, which I liked as well, and I could install more than one TTS engine, mostly due to the fact it was running Android. It also had a 18-cel l refreshable Braille display, which is the first time I used and felt a Braille display. Man, I miss those notetakers. How I wish I could get them back. Hey, that reminds me. Wouldnt it be cool to have a notetaker emulator, similar to a virtual machine client?URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=168431#p168431 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Oh, I definitely do miss my Braille N Speaks. They seem rather clunky to the tech we have now, but back in the early to mid 90s they were a must have item for a blind student. I got my first BNS Classic in 7th grade, used it a couple of years, upgraded to a BNS 640K in 9th grade, and finished with a BNS 2000 in college. Sadly, all of them are dead now, and I am not even sure where they are or if I even have any of them around.However, while I preferred using computers for serious work I liked my Braille N Speaks because they were very portable, I could literally take them anywhere, and they usually stayed charge for 24-hours or so. I could spend hours writing stories on the Braille N Speak or playing various games for the BNS such as Hangman, Simon, Mine Sweeper, Solitaire, etc. Plus the one thing that made the BNS so essential back then is that laptops were not really that portable or versatile if you were a blind user. Back in the 90s if some one purchased a laptop with say Win 95 on it they still had to get Jaws for Windows, they had to get an external synthesizer like a Dectalk Express, and between the hardware and software one could expect to pay well over $3,000 for an accessible laptop which as I said wasnt very portable compared to a Braille N Speak. I actually had a Fujitsu Lifebook with a Dectalk Express and it was a pain lugging the computer around, having to plug an external synthesizer in to the com port, and usually having to use a full sized keyboard just to use the Jaws cursor keys because the laptop Jaws keys back then were extremely confusing. So in comparison laptops were not very accessible at all. They took up too much room and required to many extra pieces of hardware to be portable. Where the BNS weighed one pound, was small, compact, and could easily slip into a backpack or could be carried with its special carrying case.Ironically, while laptops are obviously much more port able and more speech friendly today than they were back in the mid 90s I see instances where a BNS would be useful. For example, I might be at the grocery store and I want to check my shopping list. With a BNS all I had to do was flip the unit on and when it booted up it would automatically open the file last accessed making it easy for taking and reviewing notes. Where with a laptop one has to boot the computer, bring up the documents folder, find the shopping list, and open it in Notepad etc. A laptop still isnt as efficient at quick and dirty note taking such as writing down shopping lists and reviewing them in the middle of a store. I guess that is where smartphones etc come in.However, their practical use isnt the only reason I miss the Braille N Speaks. The voices were very robotic, but could be made to say and do some very funny things. One of the most funny instances I can think of is one of the students at my school dropped her Braille N Speak picked it up and it wouldnt come on. So she tried a warm reset and when the BNS came on it gave the usual Braille N Speak ready message, but it sounded demon possessed or something. As it was saying the words the voice went from high to low and low to high in pitch while speaking it in an extremely slow monotone voice. It was hilarious, and it was one of those things you had to hear to really see the humor in it.After that I began experimenting with my Braille N Speaks voice settings and began coming up with some wacky voices and sounds. Sometimes I just spent hours stringing characters together like a bunch of ampersand signs to get it to sound like a machine gun or have it sound like it was yelling and stuff. Funny times.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=168440#p168440 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? [[wow]] turtlepower, Im jealous of the old arcade games, though I dont think Ive ever seen a real juke box. My parents used to own a record player and a bunch of old 78s, some inherited from my gran, they actually still have some of them. they had one I particularly liked which was all those slightly weerd comedy, semi kids songs, I used to listen to that one when I was 5 or 6. it had whos afraid of the bigbad wolf, Jake the peg with his extra leg, the ladies of the harem of the court of king karacticus, a mouse lived in a windmill, a little of Sparkys magic piano, and that old comedy song my brother By far my favourite was windmills of your mind (which I actually want the music too so I could do it on stage). Its funny how many people do! still collect vinal, I have a friend who has all of the pink Floyde stuff on Vinal, which is fairly aws ome, though i confess getting my first diskman when i was 15 was quite an experience, so Il always be something of a digital bod myself, particularly with my ridiculous Sanheisa headphones.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=167218#p167218 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Hi everyone. I havent been on here for a little while, but Ill get to that. Anyway, one thing I miss is Klango. Although it became rather infested with spam in its final days and even prior to that, it was an awesome piece of software. Oh how I wish it could be brought back from the dead. Another piece of software which I miss is SAMNet, the System Access Mobile Network. Actually, I was able to log into my SAMNet account last week but my entire website disappeared. Im working on a new one, and hopefully my account will stay active even though I am now a Mac user. My parents threatened to have my SAMNet account shut down, possibly due to finances and the like. But Im going to talk with them about that. As far as places I miss, I really miss Pennsylvania. I used to live in Hummelstown and then Hershey, and I have a lot of fond memories of those days. For instance, I miss Hershey Park and Hershey Chocolate World, and Friendlys! For those of you who have never been to Friendlys, it is a restaurant chain which Im told only exists on the East Coast. A friend and former baby-sitter worked at the one I think in Hershey. She is now married and at a different job. But shed always get us free food. Now back to the Mac and my reason for not posting here in a little while. Ive been reading up on how to install and run Windows on here, and it seems like Bootcamp just might be the way to go even though it is somewhat inaccessible at present. Dont get me wrong, I love my Mac and Voiceover. But I also want to run Windows on here, so that I can keep up to date with things and what not.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=167293#p167293 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? I definitely agree with those of you who miss the technology of days gone by. My first computer was an AppleIIE with the Echo speech synthesizer and Textalker. I got a kick out of that thing! I remember playing games such as Madlibs, Lemonade Stand and the list goes on. I also miss the past days of radio. I vividly remember one of my fascinations was listening to the names and voices of various radio personalities, and whenever there was a fill-in host for whatever reason Id eagerly await the return of the person who was a regular in a given time slot. I also remember there used to be a columnist in one of the local newspapers here in Chicago, who had a weekly segment on different events in commercial radio. For some reason I was just fascinated with those details. I read about the Echo emulator that is currently out. At some point I might try and get it, but Im by no means an advanced programmer so if and when I do use the emulator I think Ill at least need assi stance setting it up.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=167346#p167346 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? @jjgeek, what do you mean about Klango? its still available, I used it the other day to check Scot Siglers podcasts sinse while I never liked the community features, i still find it an awsome podcatcher. Actually, I do wish it was further developed, sinse it always irritated e that the Lions share of the developement work seemed to go on what to me was the less interesting or unique stuff like the forums and chat software and Klango storage and such, all of which I always felt were a bit unnecessary given there is nothing inaccessible about web forums. I always was more interested in klangos abilities with media, and handling sound environments, indeed I always felt the Klango engine wouldve made some great games with its use of spacial sound and positioning, andI liked the idea of community game center style games, but sadly the games and media seemed to fall by the wayside. That being said, the program still runs, you can still copy an rss into the media section and add it to your favourites even if the actual media cataloguehasnt been updated in forever! which is exactly what I personally use it for. Regarding records Tom, well I confess that is likely a difference, sinse personally Ive never seen the attraction, and even if I am listening to something remastered I prefer the sound as clear as possible. For example, I own the sterrio remix versions of the beatles greatest hits. No, of course this isnt the way they wouldve sounded in the sixties, or even in the eighties, but I love the fact that you can now hear all the instrument parts to them. Again, this is probably just a function of nostalgia. For me, while I remember hearing songs on records as a child I wasnt really older enough to own any myself or get much out of them, and by the time I was old enough to be interested in music, wed moved on largely to cassette tapesand cds, indeed as I said the first cd player I got when I was fourteen in 1996 will always be very special in my memory. The first thing I played was the final fantasy 7 soundtrack, which Id got a copy of imported from Japan (which I still own). I really had a thing about the games story and plot at the time, (I tried to novelize it), so having the music was awsome! the second thing i got was a compilation of themes from sf films called space and beyond, which again I still own. This was great sinse it had on a lot of less known stuff like James Horners music for cocoon, the theme to species, event horizon, Enemy mine, blackhole, and a lot of startrek stuff. I actually still own that as well, which is great, even though I have now digitized nearly my entire cd collection. Regarding games, well we didnt hav e an atari 2600 till later, so i never really got to play games like packman or asteroids, however I do remember the differences from the arcade to home versions, sinse with the 16 bit era, while the gameplay tended to be intact (and indeed often have extras like difficulty setting in the home versions), the graphics, sound and video just werent there.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=167356#p167356 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Oh, what a cool topic.I, too, miss the old arcade games. For me, it was more personal. Back when I was growing up, which was in the 90s, my dad had a pretty well-paying job. Hes always been into collecting antiques, and other things, but back then, he knew this guy who used to sell arcade machines. So, in our basement, we had all kinds of cool stuff, like Asteroids, Donkey Kong, Galaxian, and a couple of pinball machines. We would rotate the stuff every once in awhile; he would sell one thing and buy another. Asteroids was by far my favorite game, followed closely by this bowling game where you would use a round metal puck, and slide it down a board that was covered in sand to knock down the pins. There were different game modes, one where if you got a strike while a red light was flashing, you got more points, and one that would just have flashing lights in genral. There were others, but I cant really remember them.We also had a talking dartboard, I have no idea what happened to that thing, but I really enjoyed playing it.The main attraction for me, though, will always be the jukebox we had. In fact, that carried over so strongly from my childhood that its one of the main reasons Im still interested in collecting records to this day. Not only that, but music is a huge part of my life. Im always trying to discover new bands, and Im constantly trying to get my friends into stuff that Ive heard recently. My dad would go to flea markets and stuff, and would come back with tons of 45s to put in the jukebox. I was exposed to a wide variety of classic rock, soul, blues, and pop artists that way. When my dad lost his job, and we had to sell all the games, he at least kept all those records. I still have most of them, and apparently, he unearthed a few crates of albums and stuff earlier tonight that I have every intention of going through in the next few days. people think its weird that a person in their 20s should be interested in collecting vinyl, but hearing certain songs takes me back to some of the best moments in my life. I would come home from school every day and the first thing I would do would be to run downstairs and play Asteroids or Galaxian or whatever until dinner time. Or sometimes I would just sit down there and play records for hours. Im pretty sure I drove my parents crazy doing that; I had certain songs that I was quite obsessed with.Yeah, I do miss those days.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=167201#p167201 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Hi Dark,[[wow]], yeah, there are some of those still. I have one from the blits and one of carbolic sope which smells awful in my opinion. One other thing I love is that you can buy real old English money which fascinates me. So far, I have a threpenny bit, a shilling and a Six penny piece.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166884#p166884 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? At Raycrote/Dark/Tward: I cant even begin to express how much I needed to hear that conversation.Re: old tech: I miss Windows explorer not being bloated. Actually, I liked how with IE6, you could use the same window for the internet and for the file/folder explorer.IE6 was fun as a gaming platform, but between its security flaws and how incredibly IE6-specific most of the features were, doing as much with it as I did back in its day was probably counterproductive, in terms f developing development skill.(Also wish I hadnt used so many arrays-as-dictionaries so I could port some of the better IE6/JS projects to BGT/Java/Python/anything that people can actually use nowadays.)Misc things I really miss:Swordclub! Having little unique audio ID tags on everyone would have made it so much easier to participate, but it was still pretty much the highlight of college.Spider-man Cartoon Maker. It kinda broke on Windows XP (scenes would take forever to load, then would play absurdly quickly). I might still have that disk within a few feet of me, actually... (If anyone could make an accessible equivalent that works on modern operating systems, I might have to send them a man-sized chocolate bunny.).Hm. Thought there would be more.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166885#p166885 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? @Cae, Its the stupidity of windows explorer which is another one of the pointless things in post xp windows that goes on the balance against me wanting to , though at the time I was using ie6, I never actually did any of the file exploring you mention, in fact I tended to prefer Ie7 as I found it far more stable and less prone to crash. @Lauren, yep, I remember the old money as well. Funnily enough I have a set of cufflinks that are made from old threepenny bits. Though the most interesting experience I had in terms of old money was recently at the twoer of London sinse, as it contained the royal mint for a considderable time, they had a hole exhibition on the subject including replica 17th century coins from the time of King James (the exhibition was about how Isaac Newton, head of the royal mint started introducing copper coins instead of gold ones to avoid people counterfitting them or melting the coins down for their gold content).those were quite unique and rather surprising to look at, much larger than I expected, (perhaps three times the diamiter of a modern 50 pence peace but rather thin and made of mostly copper, and quite literally scored into four quarters sinse basically if people wanted to change a penny theyd literally get a chizle and chop the things up, either into Hapennies or farthings.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166890#p166890 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? @Cae, Its the stupidity of windows explorer which is another one of the pointless things in post xp windows that goes on the balance against me wanting to , though at the time I was using ie6, I never actually did any of the file exploring you mention, in fact I tended to prefer Ie7 as I found it far more stable and less prone to crash. @Lauren, yep, I remember the old money as well. Funnily enough I have a set of cufflinks that are made from old threepenny bits. Though the most interesting experience I had in terms of old money was last year at the tower of London sinse, as it contained the royal mint for a considderable time, they had a hole exhibition on the subject including replica 17th century coins from the time of King James (the exhibition was about how Isaac Newton, head of the royal mint started introducing copper coins instead of gold ones to avoid people counterfitting them or meltin g the coins down for their gold content).those were quite unique and rather surprising to look at, much larger than I expected, (perhaps three times the diamiter of a modern 50 pence peace but rather thin and made of mostly copper, and quite literally scored into four quarters sinse basically if people wanted to change a penny theyd literally get a chizle and chop the things up, either into Hapennies or farthings.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166890#p166890 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Hi all.[[wow]], this is a really interesting topic. I used to love those arcade style games, though growing up in the early 2000s, there werent that many left.One thing I really miss is a farm I used to go to. Im not even sure why they called it a farm, fore that wasnt exactly what it was. I guess it was probably because of the caricteristics of the building ETc. But anyway, this place was open all year round, but it was all about Christmas. Inside, it looked like a huge toy factory; similar to the one father Christmas would have had, had he been real. In stead of you just looking at the toys (which clearly wouldnt have worked for me) you could hear the pretend elves hammering and sawing, ETC. Also, at the end, there was a pretend toy shop, where all the finished toys were presented. You couldnt go in there, but once, a member of staff saw Scarborough, where I live. Its called Eden camp and its all about world war 1 and world w ar 2. Its a fascinating experience, because its like a hole little village, with huts containing the different parts of the museum. One thing I loved about that place was that every 20 minutes, an airrade siren would go off. The first time it happened, I was terrified, but now I love having to run down to where the Anderson shelters are. Another thing that fascinated me was that as well as audio and visual elements of the museum, in each hut depicting a different part of the war, there is a different smell. For example, in the hut depicting the blits, it smells of smoke, etc. The only reason I dont go there anymore, is that Im in college in Worcester and only go home every four weeks or so.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166673#p166673 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Hi all.[[wow]], this is a really interesting topic. I used to love those arcade style games, though growing up in the early 2000s, there werent that many left.One thing I really miss is a farm I used to go to. Im not even sure why they called it a farm, fore that wasnt exactly what it was. I guess it was probably because of the caricteristics of the building ETc. But anyway, this place was open all year round, but it was all about Christmas. Inside, it looked like a huge toy factory; similar to the one father Christmas would have had, had he been real. In stead of you just looking at the toys (which clearly wouldnt have worked for me) you could hear the pretend elves hammering and sawing, ETC. Also, at the end, there was a pretend toy shop, where all the finished toys were presented. You couldnt go in there, but once, a member of staff, noticing I was blind, allowed me to go in there and feel some of the toys. This was all wonderful, but b y far the best part of the experience was the little bakery near the entrance, where one could buy mince pies and other such delights. Another place I miss is called Eden camp. Its situated in Malton, near Scarborough, where I live. Its all about world war 1 and world war 2. Its a fascinating experience, because its like a hole little village, with huts containing the different parts of the museum. One thing I loved about that place was that every 20 minutes, an airrade siren would go off. The first time it happened, I was terrified, but now I love having to run down to where the Anderson shelters are. Another thing that fascinated me was that as well as audio and visual elements of the museum, in each hut depicting a different part of the war, there is a different smell. For example, in the hut depicting the blits, it smells of smoke, etc. The only reason I dont go there anymore, is that Im in college in Worcester and only go home every four weeks or so.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166673#p166673 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? I remember Eden camp, though its a long time since I went and I only went there the once, I also confess I get it a little confused with the Imperial war museum in London, which has a mockup of an actual air raid shelter with the sounds of bombs dropping, which is down right scary! Speaking of smells, one thing I remember at Eden camp was that they sold those small bottles that looked like smelling salts, but were supposedly the smells of various things during the second world war. i bought a couple back and tested them on my Gran who was alive at the time, and who did live through the second world war. She appreciated them since she was totally blind herself, though she said they werent %100 accurate for Nottingham being that the village she lived in as it was a small mining village had far more the scent of coal dust as well as all the burnt smells from the bombs.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166694#p166694 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Hi Dark,im glad that you know what its like. I do have a few friends, my GF included, who really dont like adult reading at all. Anything we read is either for kids or preteens. Im not much of a reader but when I do, its always with a simple book like Roald Dahl or something. And I am not a doctorate but am half struggling, half working through my sophomore year of college. Its getting better now...Talk later Dr. Dark! LOLURL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166550#p166550 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Fastfinge, I agree with you. It is not so much the old technology itself I miss but the functionality I had with it. The way things are changing in the technology industry there are very useful things I could do back in the day I cant do now or its not the same as it was. I have used almost everything from an Apple II-E right up to the newest Windows 8.1 machines, and there are things I do miss about older operating systems that I could easily do then but not as easily now.For instance, back in the Dos days if I wanted to copy a bunch of text files from one directory to another it was usually as simple as doing something likecopy *.txt c:\notesand all of my notes in text format would be copied into the notes directory. Now days if I wanted to do the same thing on Windows Id have to go to the Start Menu, click on Documents, select all the files I wanted to copy with shift+down arrow, do control+c, alt+left arrow back up to the top level director y, find the directory I want, and paste them in with control+v. Thats a lot more complicated and requires more steps to accomplish the same thing I could do with a single command.Word processing has had similar changes over the years. Back in the early to mid 90s I use to do all of my homework on a computer running Jaws for Dos and WordPerfect 5.1. The thing I miss about WordPerfect 5.1 is the way in which I could select text to copy, move, delete, etc. Unlike modern word processors where you use the shift arrow keys to select text in WordPerfect I could go to the beginning of the text I wanted to delete, set a start marker, and then go to the end of the text I wanted to delete and drop an end marker. When I hit delete that entire region of text was gone. It didnt matter if it was one line or one hundred lines.It seems in modern word processors like Microsoft Word 2010 if I want to remove two or three paragraphs from a document I am working on I have to shift+down arrow, shift+down arrow, shift+down arrow, etc until the entire region is selected and then hit delete. It isnt as efficient in my opinion as the old Dos word processors were.However, the thing I miss most about older operating systems like Dos is developing programs. When I was learning to program they started me out on simple Dos or command line apps that just output text directly to the screen using functions like printf(). That was extremely easy to do, and wasnt complicated at all. However, if someone wants to really develop apps for Windows they have to have a firm understanding of the Windows API which is like a 1,200 page manual, and cant do a blessed thing until they create all the dialog boxes, buttons, check boxes, etc that goes along with a Windows GUI. While I like programming Im not excited to spend the first day or two of programming just creating the user interface before I can get on with the business of writing tha t program I want to write. In my opinion a lot of time is wasted spent on creating a point and click interface I myself just dont want or need.Raygrote, dont let other adults put you down for having a youthful childhood spirit. Even though I am an adult, 36 to be exact, there are some aspects of my own childhood I am not willing to give up, and I dont see any rational reason I should. Sometimes that does cause other adults to look at me funny or make comments to the effect I should grow up and act my age but I think they are just being stuck up and have lost the ability to enjoy the simple things in life.To give you an example I have always had an interested in animated cartoons. Transformers, Masters of the Universe, Ninja Turtles, Thunder Cats, etc. You name it I probably have several of them on DVD, and I enjoy spending time with my son, who is 9, watching them and discussing those cartoons both new and old.However, my former wif e and her family constantly use to make comments to the effect I should grow up, stop watching kids stuff, I should act my age, etc. I dont really know what their problem is, but I never let it bother me. It is something I personally enjoy, something I have in common with my son, and Id much rather see a couple of fictional robots shooting it out than see a movie where human beings are killing each other.Another aspect of my childhood I have not quite given up is I am something of a toy collector. Sometime back in the 80s I began collecting Star Trek and Star wars Action figures. At this point I have a fairly extensive collection of both. However, there are some in my family and others who I know who sort of frown on that hobby of mine and think it is a waste of money, that I am being childish, etc. Again, as with the cartoons I just ignore them.My advice is just be yourself. If people dont like you for who you are that is there problem. T here is no reason you have to give up your personal interests because others in your immediate circle of friends and family have a problem with your interests.URL:
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Hi,@exodus: I fully agree about rock band. Ive logged hundreds of hours into that thing, and what a fun way it was to interact with music. Singing is one thing, but singing and having a croud clap along if you are doing well, or go quiet if you perhaps dont do so well, to darnright booing you if you dont know what youre doing, now thats awesome. Same with the good ol plastic guitar, and the keyboard, especially pro keys. It took effert but when I could go round a friends house and actually play the opening riff to Walk of Life by dier straights, on a real keyboard? that was epic. It also let you appreciate what effert it takes to create music, as you could set a few volume levls up so you could hear individual instruments more, and that was really interesting. It also got friends round and honestly, those were just incredibly fun times.URL: http://forum.audiogame s.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166572#p166572 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Dark, you are absolutely right. The arcades as we knew them in the 80s and 90s went the way of the dinosaurs. While I miss them I also realize the reasons why we no longer see video arcades these days, and why most game companies no longer make video game cabinets.One of the major reasons comes down to economics. It is no longer profitable to make arcade machines, and to startup a video game arcade. The economics of the video game industry was a lot different back in the golden years of video game arcades.Back in the early 80s I recall it was a quarter, 25 cents, per game. I could just walk into any arcade and play Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Asteroids, etc and it was only 25 cents per game. However, between the early 80s and mid 90s the price of arcade games steadily rose from 25 cents to a dollar per turn. So if my parents gave me a dollar to play games instead of four games for a dollar I got one game and one turn with nothing left over to play anything else. I am certain I was not alone in that situation, and the price of arcade games undoubtedly contributed to their down fall.At the same time the cost of arcade games were rising there was a huge explosion in the home console market. It started out with the Atari 2600, followed by the Atari 5200, and eventually the 78000. In addition to Atari there was the IntelliVision, the ColecoVision, and of course the original Nintendo Entertainment System. By the mid 80s most people my age had at least one or two consoles and that really sealed the doom of arcades. Why walk or ride your bike to an arcade with a pocket full of quarters when you could stay home and play game x all day for less?Of course, arcades hung on for a while and that was mainly due to the fact that the home consoles werent as good as the arcade machines. The arcade machines generally had better graphics, possibly extra levels, etc which made purests go there and play. Plu s as you yourself pointed out there was a time when game companies use to release their games in the arcade first several months before selling a home version for their game consoles. That kept the arcades open and alive even when home consoles were flourishing.However, as with all things that didnt last forever. By the mid 90s and the release of Sonys Play Station the home consoles were as good as if not better than what could be found in the arcades. That was the beginning of the end for arcades because now days you can pick any console XBox, Play Station, Wii and they are superior to anything we had in the arcade 20 years ago, and they just keep getting better.The final nail in the arcades coffin is online game play. By the mid 90s most PC games had some sort of online game play,and eventually the major consoles had online play as well. A lot of mainstream gamers now consider online play to be more enjoyable than stand alone play, and as a re sult the days where a game company could create a stand alone game without online play and think it will do well are gone sealing the end of the arcade as we knew it.Now days, at least as far as America is concerned, arcades are pretty much relegated to the past. There are some places that still offer arcade cabinets such as Chuck E. Cheese, but arcade games is not their main income. Chuck E. Cheese is a pizza parlor and their main income is selling pizza and soda. Although, I am sure they make money off of selling tokens to kids who want to play video games, but it isnt the craze it once was 20 or 30 years ago. Probably because they can get better and have better games at home on their XBox 360, Play Station 3, etc.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166462#p166462 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? I miss arcades as well. I miss playing all the mortal kombat games especially. That was how i got in to the series as a whole, and i have some great memories of playing those games at various arcades in my state. I also miss old tech. I remember my first computer, an old compaq desktop with windows 98 SE. That machine lasted several years, eventually getting an XP update, and trucking right along until the motherboard died. I have recently got in to buying older machines, and upgrading them, so they perform almost like new. I really can appreciate how far tech has come. I remember in the 90s how owning a computer was a big deal, almost like a status statement. I can even remember the dos days, and the games i played as a young kid on those systems. While i love modern tech, i really miss the days of old sometimes.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166465#p166465 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? [[wow]], I think I might be one of the few people who *doesnt* miss old technology. I remember all the crashes, how hard it was to use, the cost, and Im so glad we have new stuff that works so much better. I used to kind of miss my Apple2 and all the games I had for it, but now thanks to Jaybird, we have accessible emulation, and I dont miss it at all, anymore. Not even a little bit. Emulation is faster, quieter (no more of that grunta grunta sound), more reliable, portable, and IMHO better in every way. No, what I miss the most, is the days when radio used to be cool. Commercial radio to some extent, but I wasnt born when the coolness of that started to decline, locally owned and operated radio stations were all taken over by national or international syndicates, dramas went off the air, and good DJs became a thing of the past. What Im thinking of are things like ham radio. When I first got my license, cell phones werent nearly popular, and having a radio that you could use to talk to someone thousands of miles away was the coolest thing ever! Today, if I want to talk to a friend in Europe, I open team talk, or skype, or use my international long distance plan on my phone. They work better, and the sound is clearer and more reliable, thats true. But strangely enough, its much harder to find a community of good, smart, friendly people to talk to. It took a lot of hard work and study to get a ham license, so most people never bothered. But any idiot can use voice chat, and today, every idiot does. Back when it was hard to get on the Internet, the online communities were also much higher quality, for similar reasons. So when I say I miss things like BBS systems and dialup Internet, it isnt because I miss that technology. It was horrible, and I hated it then, and I have no fond memories of modems or DOS. But I miss an Internet that was just a littl e bit exclusive, and thus a lot more communal. Also, getting back to radio, it used to be possible to scan frequencies and listen in on everything from police, to fire, to local security, to the coast guard. Today, nearly all of the interesting traffic is digital, encrypted, frequency hopping, trunking, and nearly impossible to evesdrop on. So again, I dont miss the old technology. I just miss the function.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166478#p166478 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Well Tom your likely correct about arcade game decline, however it is rather sad, since it was much more fun going somewhere else, looking out for the latest game and occasionally even making friends as you watched someon else play or teamed up with them rather than just sitting at your computer. It was the same with consoles, I think my brother and I mustve played sf2 turbo for about 12 hours solid on the Christmas and boxing day when we first got our snes (in I believe 1994), both in terms of playing each other and then me watching my brother and learning techniques from what he did. It was the same with my friends as well, particularly with games like the super bomberman series that could be played three or four players, or even earlier when we had our old Amiga computer, playing games like moonstone or rampage together. This does still exist, but you have to find specific people to do it, and of curse since most mainstream ; console games are pretty unplayable to me these days I dont get to do it either, indeed that is something else I miss about the old days, since now when my friends at rp discuss computer games they arent games I know about or are able to participate in, but back in the snes games I could freely discuss all the details of streetfighter, mortal combat, metroid or donkey kong quite abley. @Fastfinge, I agree on missing the function of old tech, though i confess I never did the ham radio thing, indeed since up until I got to university the most fun id had with my laptop was using ms word for writing character sheets for tabeletop games, I never got the dos experience at all much less apple Ii, one reason Im so pleased to play games like Eamon deluxe or trade wars now, since to me they are entirely new.All that being said, in fairness its not all a downwards slide. I remember for example being extremely irritated in the 90s that there was no access to fighting fantasy style gamebooks at all, and even attempting to brow beat the rnib into producing them. Now of course, while sadly the original ff series are still inaccessible (thank you very much tinman games), there are lots of things of similar style, from ffproject to chooseyourstory on the Iphone, not to mention the entire lone wolf series freely available.Likewise, while Ive not exactly had the rpg experience I want yet, with games like Entombed I have come a lot closer, indeed as I have said before I first became interested in audio games primarily for sort of experience they could give me that Id missed in the mainstream, eg, access to fps games like shades of doom or rp games, which trend has continued.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166482#p166482 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? God there is tons of stuff that died that I miss. Heres one. Rock band. The memorable parties I had with that game. Every week the DLC would come out, and every week me and my friends would pretty much buy it all, get together and play it. Many a good night was had. We still have the od night once in a blue moon, but our instrement controlers are tireing and its hard to source replacements. Theres never been a game like it and their probably wont be again for a while. RIP rock band.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166504#p166504 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
[Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Things you really miss? Hi,This is a topic about thigns that may have disappeared that you used to enjoy. Now, I dont mean people who may have died, I dont want this topic to get depressing.Im talking about fun things, such as toys, or places you used to go, that you reallky remember but cant really go to anymore.For me, at the moment, its the Trocadero arcade in London, in the UK. The place has now closed down, and is sort of open but is a shadow of its former self.One thing I really miss is a motion simulator called the Sega Mini rider II.This was a sort of capsule thing, you insert your coins, slect what sort of adventure you want to go on, and the seat moves and there was a screen, and lots of sound. It was very different from traditional capsule simulators.I dont know how, but the machinery on this thing was a beast. On most simulators, you select your ride and the thing just tilts around a bit. Sure, they were fun, but th is one, for me was a ten out of ten, and heres why:The sound, first of all, was crystal clear. You literally couldnt really hear anything else once the speakers started up.Secondly, was the movement. Honestly, I dont know what they have on this thing, but when I first rode this, heres how it went:I asked one of my parents to ride with me just to be sure I was safe. Of course, after the first ride I just went alone, but I digress. Back to this first ride...I was told tha you could pick the Astro Canyon Coaster, which seems to be a popular simulator ride. I use this as the benchmark, if I can, when riding simulators, as Im rather familiar with it.So low and behold, we took our seats, put the coins in, and selected the ride. The familiar sound of a spaceport started up, then the thing started to shake. I thought ok, this is new, but I wasnt too impressed. It reminded me of the very shaky mad wave motion theatre, which wa s quite fun but just shook you around a bit.So here I was, feeling this thing shaking, thinking aah well, this is gonna be quite fun, Im enjoying this, but its an 8 out of ten so far. its loud, which is nice.Then the thing sort of swung forward and from then on, that was it. It tilted, swung left and right, swung backwards... and my mind was completely immersed. This was what a simulator should be. The chance to really escape and to feel like you are part of the action.Two different rides later and I had a final verdict: ten out of ten. This thing had done things Id never seen before in a small simulator, including, god forbid, started going forward followed by a thrust forward, and a pivot, during a space race ride. and have not seen anything like it since.Then, we go up to london a few years back, and heres me, looking forward to that mini rider, which by now had become the king of simulators for me. I could only experience it a couple of times a year.So here we go! Into the trocadero, walking, up the escolator... oh wait... no. We stop at the top of the escolator. Somethings wrong. Something sounds quiet.I thought oh, maybe theres another entrance, maybe they are rebuilding?Then we found ou the news that the place had closed due to rent or some such thing. I... couldnt really understand it. every time we been here, the place was really busy!We went out, and I was sort of lost. No mini rider for me. All those memories. The motion simulators, stuff that I dont ahve near by, just... gone.We then went up next time, hre was me hoping that it might be open. We then went to the trocadero again. It was closed.I finally started to realize. It then sunk in, big time. It did not ruin my trip to London, thankfully, but I dont look forward to it as much anymore. The trocadero was always a highlight. It had stuff Id never seen in any local a rcade of mine, and especially that mini rider, which, to this day, I still think about and secretly hope that Ill find again.One things certain: if I find it, I am going to make the most of it. I will do all the adventures it has to offer, time permitting of course. Nothing has removed its crown for me as of yet, but who knows. Maybe Ill find something better? After all, its sequel, the mini rider 3d, was announced last year by sega. But then where would that be in the UK? What sort of arcade would host that now? Whre can I even find those simulator-type machines?URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166401#p166401 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
[Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Things you really miss? Hi,This is a topic about thigns that may have disappeared that you used to enjoy. Now, I dont mean people who may have died, I dont want this topic to get depressing.Im talking about fun things, such as toys, or places you used to go, that you reallky remember but cant really go to anymore.For me, at the moment, its the Trocadero arcade in London, in the UK. The place has now closed down, and is sort of open but is a shadow of its former self.One thing I really miss is a motion simulator called the Sega Mini rider II.This was a sort of capsule thing, you insert your coins, slect what sort of adventure you want to go on, and the seat moves and there was a screen, and lots of sound. It was very different from traditional capsule simulators.I dont know how, but the machinery on this thing was a beast. On most simulators, you select your ride and the thing just tilts around a bit. Sure, they were fun, but th is one, for me was a ten out of ten, and heres why:The sound, first of all, was crystal clear. You literally couldnt really hear anything else once the speakers started up.Secondly, was the movement. Honestly, I dont know what they have on this thing, but when I first rode this, heres how it went:I asked one of my parents to ride with me just to be sure I was safe. Of course, after the first ride I just went alone, but I digress. Back to this first ride...I was told tha you could pick the Astro Canyon Coaster, which seems to be a popular simulator ride. I use this as the benchmark, if I can, when riding simulators, as Im rather familiar with it.So low and behold, we took our seats, put the coins in, and selected the ride. The familiar sound of a spaceport started up, then the thing started to shake. I thought ok, this is new, but I wasnt too impressed. It reminded me of the very shaky mad wave motion theatre, which wa s quite fun but just shook you around a bit.So here I was, feeling this thing shaking, thinking aah well, this is gonna be quite fun, Im enjoying this, but its an 8 out of ten so far. its loud, which is nice.Then the thing sort of swung forward and from then on, that was it. It tilted, swung left and right, swung backwards... and my mind was completely immersed. This was what a simulator should be. The chance to really escape and to feel like you are part of the action.Two different rides later and I had a final verdict: ten out of ten. This thing had done things Id never seen before in a small simulator, including, god forbid, started going forward followed by a thrust forward, and a pivot, during a space race ride. and have not seen anything like it since.Then, we go up to london a few years back, and heres me, looking forward to that mini rider, which by now had become the king of simulators for me. I could only experience it a couple of times a year.So here we go! Into the trocadero, walking, up the escolator... oh wait... no. We stop at the top of the escolator. Somethings wrong. Something sounds quiet.I thought oh, maybe theres another entrance, maybe they are rebuilding?Then we found ou the news that the place had closed due to rent or some such thing. I... couldnt really understand it. every time we been here, the place was really busy!We went out, and I was sort of lost. No mini rider for me. All those memories. The motion simulators, stuff that I dont ahve near by, just... gone.We then went up next time, hre was me hoping that it might be open. We then went to the trocadero again. It was closed.I finally started to realize. It then sunk in, big time. It did not ruin my trip to London, thankfully, but I dont look forward to it as much anymore. The trocadero was always a highlight. It had stuff Id never seen in any local a rcade of mine, and especially that mini rider, which, to this day, I still think about and secretly hope that Ill find again.One things certain: if I find it, I am going to make the most of it. I will do all the adventures it has to offer, time permitting of course. Nothing has removed its crown for me as of yet, but who knows. Maybe Ill find something better? After all, its sequel, the mini rider 3d, was announced last year by sega. But then where would that be in the UK? What sort of arcade would host that now? Where can I even find those simulator-type machines?URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166401#p166401 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
[Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Things you really miss? Hi,This is a topic about thigns that may have disappeared that you used to enjoy. Now, I dont mean people who may have died, I dont want this topic to get depressing.Im talking about fun things, such as toys, or places you used to go, that you reallky remember but cant really go to anymore.For me, at the moment, its the Trocadero arcade in London, in the UK. The place has now closed down, and is sort of open but is a shadow of its former self.One thing I really miss is a motion simulator called the Sega Mini rider II.This was a sort of capsule thing, you insert your coins, slect what sort of adventure you want to go on, and the seat moves and there was a screen, and lots of sound. It was very different from traditional capsule simulators.I dont know how, but the machinery on this thing was a beast. On most simulators, you select your ride and the thing just tilts around a bit. Sure, they were fun, but th is one, for me was a ten out of ten, and heres why:The sound, first of all, was crystal clear. You literally couldnt really hear anything else once the speakers started up.Secondly, was the movement. Honestly, I dont know what they have on this thing, but when I first rode this, heres how it went:I asked one of my parents to ride with me just to be sure I was safe. Of course, after the first ride I just went alone, but I digress. Back to this first ride...I was told tha you could pick the Astro Canyon Coaster, which seems to be a popular simulator ride. I use this as the benchmark, if I can, when riding simulators, as Im rather familiar with it.So low and behold, we took our seats, put the coins in, and selected the ride. The familiar sound of a spaceport started up, then the thing started to shake. I thought ok, this is new, but I wasnt too impressed. It reminded me of the very shaky mad wave motion theatre, which wa s quite fun but just shook you around a bit.So here I was, feeling this thing shaking, thinking aah well, this is gonna be quite fun, Im enjoying this, but its an 8 out of ten so far. its loud, which is nice.Then the thing sort of swung forward and from then on, that was it. It tilted, swung left and right, swung backwards... and my mind was completely immersed. This was what a simulator should be. The chance to really escape and to feel like you are part of the action.Two different rides later and I had a final verdict: ten out of ten. This thing had done things Id never seen before in a small simulator, including, god forbid, started going forward followed by a thrust forward, and a pivot, during a space race ride. and have not seen anything like it since.Then, we go up to london a few years back, and heres me, looking forward to that mini rider, which by now had become the king of simulators for me. I could only experience it a couple of times a year.So here we go! Into the trocadero, walking, up the escolator... oh wait... no. We stop at the top of the escolator. Somethings wrong. Something sounds quiet.I thought oh, maybe theres another entrance, maybe they are rebuilding?Then we found ou the news that the place had closed due to rent or some such thing. I... couldnt really understand it. every time we been here, the place was really busy!We went out, and I was sort of lost. No mini rider for me. All those memories. The motion simulators, stuff that I dont ahve near by, just... gone.We then went up next time, hre was me hoping that it might be open. We then went to the trocadero again. It was closed.I finally started to realize. It then sunk in, big time. It did not ruin my trip to London, thankfully, but I dont look forward to it as much anymore. The trocadero was always a highlight. It had stuff Id never seen in any local a rcade of mine, and especially that mini rider, which, to this day, I still think about and secretly hope that Ill find again.One things certain: if I find it, I am going to make the most of it. I will do all the adventures it has to offer, time permitting of course. Nothing has removed its crown for me as of yet, but who knows. Maybe Ill find something better? After all, its sequel, the mini rider 3d, was announced last year by sega. But then where would that be in the UK? What sort of arcade would host that now? Where can I even find those simulator-type machines?URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166401#p166401 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Well, there are a lot of places and things I miss, but since you opened this topic up about simulators and games Ill continue along that thread for the moment.When I was a kid back in the 1980s there was this store in Wooster called Big Wheel. What I enjoyed most about that particular store is between Big Wheel and the I.G.A. next door is they had a really nice arcade. I think every game produced between 1982 and 1992 I played it there first before getting it for my Atari and Nintendo Entertainment System. They had such classics as Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Poll Position, and later games like Double Dragon and Ninja Turtles. You name it I probably played it in that arcade.One of my all time favorite games in that arcade was the original Poll Position. The game machine looked like a racecar which you climbed into with a steering wheel, gear shift, and break peddle. I dont know how many hours and quarters I spent in that game as a kid racing th e tracks and occasionally crashing into a sign or hitting an oil slick and blowing up after I slid into a wall.One thing I do know is that Big Wheel went out of business around 1992 and the arcade closed along with the store. I really miss that arcade, because now that I am a father myself Id like to take my son to play the games and of course they arent there for either of us to enjoy.The other place I liked to hang out was in the lobby of a store named Hex. My family and I often shopped in that store and one thing I liked is right inside the stores lobby they had a couple of rows of arcade machines. It was not exactly an arcade per say, but they usually had anywhere from 10 to 20 arcade machines out there in the lobby to play on any given day. So occasionally when my parents went inside the store to go do some shopping, buying clothes, or something else Id stand out there in the lobby blowing up asteroids, killing aliens, and so on.Unfo rtunately, Hex had an even shorter life span than Big Wheel. I believe Hex went bankrupt in 1987, and ours was one of the first to close. So not only did we lose a good department store but that was one of two major sources of games gone just like that.However, in the 80s and for the early part of the 90s arcade games were to a certain extent fairly popular here in the US. Most department stores and even restaurants had a few some near the entrance or the exits for customers to play.I can remember for a while Pizza Hut use to have a version of Pac-Man built into one of their booths where people could come over, sit down, and play Pac-Man while they waited on their order to come. I must have sat down and played Pac-Man on that game machine a zillion times over the years before Pizza Hut got rid of it.Some time in the 90s all the arcade machines began to disappear. I dont know why but these days you will be lucky if you find one in a depart ment store lobby or a pizza parlor. In fact, the only place I can think of that still has lots of arcade games is a Pizza Parlor called Chucky Cheese which got popular for their animatronics, arcade games, and pizza for young kids and teenagers. However, beyond that it is rare to find arcade machines anywhere in the US as far as small towns goes. Some major cities still have some arcades that have them, but for the most part it seems to me like arcade machines are for the most part a thing of the past. Today it seems like everyone is into consoles like Xbox, Play Station, Wii, etc and the coin op arcade machines that use to be everywhere are ancient history.URL: http://forum.audiogames.net/viewtopic.php?pid=166411#p166411 ___ Audiogames-reflector mailing list Audiogames-reflector@sabahattin-gucukoglu.com http://sabahattin-gucukoglu.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/audiogames-reflector
Re: [Audiogames-reflector] Things you really miss?
Re: Things you really miss? Well as were talking arcade machines, I can definitely chip in. I went to the Trocadero several times and even on that simulator you mention Aaron, it was a good one though I will confess Ive found some pretty awsome ones elswhere too. For example, one of the theme parks (couldve been American adventure I believe), had the Aliens simulator, (and that is Aliens as in the Alien films directed by ridly scot). This was pretty awsome since not only have I always been a big fan of those films, but also the aliens simulator was one of the most extreme I have been on. When the drop ship fell downwards to the planet, the thing tipped at nearly a 90 degree angle, so far back people complained they couldnt see the screen, but the motion was fantastic. Then again, I have encountered those sorts of simulators in other places, indeed I think the technology to build them these days is getting a little cheaper to produce since lots of places seem t o have them more often, even things like science museums. Late last year when my parents visited me up here at my flat, we went to the life center which is one of those popular science type museums and is in Newcastle only about half an hour from the train from where I am. This is one of those fun popular science museums with lots of random stuff to do such as building iglues and the like, (possibly mostly intended for kids but I tend to like that sort of thing anyway). They had a simulator running a halloween program which they admitted was just for fun and didnt have much to do with science, it was a ride through castle dracula and finished with the count rising up in front of you and sneezing, and the audience getting lightly splashed with water, that was fun. Arcades though and arcade games generally have really gone the way of the dinosaur. While I am not old enough to remember all those 8 bit atari type games in the arcades suc h as packman or space invaders, from around 1990 to about 1996 or 7 I spent a lot of time in arcades. Particularly, at the seaside where my parents have a bungalow in a town called Skegness there is an arcade just called the peerr since it is built along the peer over the sea. This was always one of my favourite arcades since they would have in all the lateast games to come out, Ninja turtles or the simpsons, various versions of street fighter 2 and 3, all the earlier mk games, Virtua fighter, Killer instinct, a lot of Tekken games, dark stalkers, Final fight, double dragon, even the first soul blade arcade game in 1999. They also often rotated what games they had out, once I even found an original super Mario brothers arcade game which I tried out. They also tended to have a lot of more random things. For example there was a version of galaxians which was contained in a huge booth about the size of a small room with curtains over the entr ance and its own roof, not to mention a screen about 6 foot wide. They even had the version of ridge racer which was hooked up to a sports car with a 10 foot screen in front of it (I didnt play that one since the screen was rather hard to sea, but I did sit in the passenger seat while my dad drove). These days, while the peer arcade is still there, its wall to wall fruit machines and those dreadful crane games, with not one propper computer game at all.Ive played lots of these games since on Mame, not to mention having all the coinop versions for the snes, and in fact I own the enhanced gba versions of final fight and double dragon which I can play with my massive x arcade stick and in fact a much bigger and clearer screen than was available back then, but i do rather miss looking forward to seeing what was the next game out each summer and then being really excited when the coinop came out. Unfortunately, both technology and society have pretty much left arcades behind, since where as previously even the better 16 bit consoles like the Snes couldnt produce as good games as in the arcade, now thats not true. Plus, while there are still some good games being produced there does seem to have been a drop in standards. Some of the people Ive spoken to on retro type parts of the net attribute this to both commercialism, ie, the fact that now games are played by far more people who arent! themselves pretty serious gamers where as back in the 90s you generally had to be fairly interested in games which not everyone was, and the fact that with the ability to produce huge games with 3D graphics, the games themselves dont have to be as difficult or engaging as they used to be since it is the flashy visuals that will draw sales, and the length of the game as well as things like online play charges that will keep people coming back for more until the company grin ds out the next block buster. I dont think this is entirely true, there are still good and interesting games being made, but I do think it has some merrit. Also I confess for me gaming very much changed when everything went 32
