DPsx7

15 years? Cripes. I mean it's been a while but it doesn't feel like THAT long ago we were on the other site and you mentioned this project. I wouldn't know what to suggest. For the forums, simple is best. For the content, while expanding what you preserve would attract more people, it would also be a significant addition to what needs to be maintained. Don't burn yourselves out by going overboard.

Didn't find yet. Work has been busy. Good point, a tape wouldn't stay in its case if it wasn't wrapped. Trying to think back, doubt I'd have taken a free VHS since the player was in a different room (and I'd only use it once). Could it have been a different store. A third party. Did I forget that I signed up for something else besides a subscription. Oh well.

The only way we're gonna have any certainty is if I find the dang thing. While I know I never subbed to the mag early nor filled out any cards, maybe I was signed up at a store for coupons and offers and they traded my addy. I honestly don't know. The wiki can only go by whatever info people have, it's not an all encompassing resource. I can check the old video cabinet. If it's not there I have one other idea where to look but it's kinda buried.

Ah, I'll bet that solves it. Remember when I said I may have a second VHS that I feel came from TrU? Fairly certain it was mailed, it's not like I would have bought it with a game or anything. That's where checking for a label would provide answers. No to any warranty or registrations.

I grew up with the NES and doubt my parents would have paid for a 'video game' mag if I'd asked. Ha. So like I said they wouldn't have had my info until at least the GBA/GC era if not later with the Wii. You're making me want to find it and check the label to see how I would have gotten one sent to me. Or on the other hand I guess it's not worth stressing over. One of those things I'll stumble across again someday.

Dunno then. I'm certain I didn't have a sub in the N64 days because technically my brother owned it. Had a sub for PSM though. Some stores might let you sign up for coupons or offers but being so long ago I can't recall.

Maybe it was store related as I don't recall filling out any cards. Don't think online surveys were a thing at the time. By the time I started getting CD's or DVD's they were for demos rather than advertising.

Yeah that rings a bell. I didn't have a sub until late (GBA gen I think). All my early mags were from a friend that was cleaning out his room and they ended up here. And now that I'm wondering there may be a second VHS, possibly a promo from TrU. I mean this is from a long time ago but I swear I had something else that wasn't NP related. Funny in a way. I've always collected the games. It's the side stuff that you don't quite pay attention to that makes neat finds. Posters, plushies, demos, accessories, carry cases, etc.

Wanna say I have one that's DK related. Dunno where it's at but I wouldn't have tossed it.

Kind of surprising. Gaming is what I do in my downtime and I don't have much else to fill it with. Probably why portables are so popular so they could play while commuting to work. 12 hours is normal? Yeesh. Well, sorta. I guess if you're a heavy PC user then you'd readily include it. Once you do that though then is anything actually 'exclusive' or original? I like keeping focus on the strongest part (consoles) just to avoid going too wide with the discussions. The way mobile is designed it's got its own little separate world. Not like you're going to find ports of console games on a device without any actual buttons. We're almost on the same page. I agree the hardware isn't that relevant when you're discussing games. But that's also why I ignore PC's, anything worth playing comes to consoles and it's not like the games are different enough that we need to be "console this" and "PC that". I say consoles to keep it simple rather than specify each individual platform. I hope that makes sense. Sometimes I know what I'm trying to say but it doesn't come across clearly.

The topic of consoles is big enough on its own. I've never considered mobile a gaming platform and PC's were excluded over 10 years ago. It gets kind of stupid when we do include them because then people fight over software being exclusive or just console exclusive, or timed... It's easier if we focus on the consoles. I have no way to know how much US content makes it there. If our crap is unique for you then ok, whatever. I'm mildly curious as to what types of games you're referring to. You saw my list of games before. Oh I understand it's limited to a couple areas like Akihabara, not the entire country. Really, nobody over college age? Huh. TV isn't great here either, it's just a handful of notable shows. I was just using a few examples of why I'd go there over somewhere else.

I'm not counting mobile or PC's, they're dud platforms. Mobile because the games are disposable - play for 2 days then discard. PC failed me way back when I bought HL2 which was infected with Steam. I've told the story many times before and the short version is that malware got in the way of me playing the game on several occasions. This is why I prefer physical games, quit PC's, and won't go near things Valve glues their name to. Ok, so when you say the US has unique content you're referring to indie stuff. We've been kinda mushing 2 timeframes together. Before indies and after. Before was the stagnation period. Talking about today, yeah the unique stuff comes from all over. I didn't get the impression you were raised there. So I didn't know if it was a business thing, a temporary trip, or what. Always said if I ended up visiting a country outside the US it would probably be there. Video games and crazy technology are more my speed than historical landmarks and museums. Engrish, cat cafes, the ability to buy nearly anything from a vending machine, even something as simple as the shows/advertising. I've seen videos online and I don't know what to say after most of 'em. Takeshi's Castle, prank shows, flying banana people, talking dogs...

So what? No, my point. I thought you were replying to me not your own thread as a whole. Yeah maybe you aren't seeing it then. I gave a list earlier and they're all without clones in the US at least. And again as of a few years ago I'd say JP definitely had the edge in the creativity category. US devs were playing it too safe. It was 'too risky' to make something that wasn't a sequel. Wouldn't surprise me if that stagnation was why people were proclaiming the death of consoles. Now we have so many indies going above and beyond what any bigger company used to experiment with. The market is stronger than ever. So to bring it back to your original question it's the variety that I like - stuff I will probably not find developed in the US. Have you always lived over there or what? Just wondering. I haven't been outside the US (unless you count a trip to Canada) and I never explored import games until region locking went away.

Are you serious? In the most basic sense rhythm games aren't released every year at $60. They'll make some improvements during their development. The other stuff is copied from last year, and the year before that. No, most shooters are ok. As long as they do it right. Don't make excuses for CoD. It's recycled garbage meant for the same idiots year after year. Think of it as a bait game - it collects all the kids you don't want playing anywhere else. Without turning this into an essay lemme just say you're kinda missing the point. I started out saying JP has unique games you simply aren't going to find anywhere else. I wouldn't buy a console without their support. Granted, the volume of indies is adding way more variety than JP could do on their own. And then for the part you're talking about, yeah we should ask EA and Activision to close because they don't offer good games. We won't miss them.

It's not that simple. Rhythm games don't need to change a whole lot other than give you new music. EA/Act charging full price for the same Madden/CoD every year isn't as excusable. 'Cookie cutter' isn't a good thing. I hope you didn't misunderstand my post. Sports and shooters are a dime a dozen. The other sentence was just saying there's some good stuff but I realize JP has a lot of clone games as well. Shmups change a little. Funny you mention that because I imported a copy of Taiko plus a drum controller. First time I ever played it although I was aware of it for some time. Last time there was an English version was back during PS2?

I started importing games when I realized that EU or JP were getting discs and we were only getting digital. At the same time I found a few neat games I'd otherwise have missed. They do have to be subtitled though, so my choices aren't quite as expansive. They can't be as cookie cutter as the flood of lame sports and shooters we end up with over here. For every rhythm game, RPG, or shmup they get there's a lot I wouldn't choose like horse racing, mahjong, visual novels, or train sims. Oh obviously. Indies have really made themselves a home since the big companies hardly try anything new. Until recently I'd say big JP publishers would often experiment, but Capcom and Konami to name 2 have made some iffy decisions. I like it. Been watching anime on Adult Swim for years now. I know some will act like that's not 'pure enough' but I'm not gonna scour the net and DL things. I suppose if you live there it's another story.

The variety. I'm not into all that sex appeal kind of stuff so as long as the characters look decent then whatever. I don't know whether JP has more creative freedom or if they're the only ones to act on it. You're not going to find games like Katamari, Catherine, Ico, Fatal Frame, or Lollipop Chainsaw from the US. Some games are just bizarre and funny at the same time.

Sorta. I usually know 'if' I've played a certain game. My problem is I play so dang many that I don't often recall much about the story. Because some games sit for months before I play them (I wait for sales), it's happened more than once where I'll buy stuff during a B2G1 or something then come home and realize I had one of 'em already.

I've been here for who knows how many years. Never DL'ed a magazine. Back then I didn't want to DL any programs to read them and had subs to at least 3 mags. Now I'm down to just Game Informer. I've kept my mags for the same reason I kept the games - to revisit someday. The games have obviously held up better. So I can see myself browsing in the library here at some point. Of course the effort of everyone here is appreciated because as a collector I'm interested in preserving what we can. A long time ago I wanted to help emulation. Problem was the easy stuff was done and I'm nowhere close to understanding the electrical components to help on the complicated stuff.

I uploaded a bunch of covers because the site is a great resource, but don't really post a lot. Like you said there isn't a lot of activity. Plus this is my busy time at work and I'm always trying to crunch through my backlog. Truth is the old site I was using as a homepage went away so I started using this one.

I've been using the same version of Winamp since the day I originally DL'ed it. The info box says 2.5, Aug 1999. Lol. Never needed to try anything else. And yeah I use a few plugins to play files ripped from NES games too.

Sorry Retromags, you're going in the spam filter. I tried to turn off notifications but it's not working.

Gah! Ya'll need to be quiet. Every time there's a reply I get mailbombed... My poor AOL box. *looks for unsubscribe button*

I'd prefer a cocktail cab so it could support more than one game. But they're trying to make this more 'physical' which is definitely unique.

It sounds like it could be useful but I don't need anything like that. Besides, I couldn't control it since I never bought a cell phone. Then there's always that bit of paranoia that these devices are collecting information without your consent.