Moving into the Wild World!

Back in March 2012 I found out I had been gone from my game of Animal Crossing for over 77 months. Sadly since then not much has changed, I've often found myself shutting the game off and forgetting about Mr. Resetti, oops! But I haven't really made much progress in the game and I've watched villagers come and villagers go.

With my, somewhat, recent acquisition of a working Nintendo DS Lite I wondered if they had any sequels for this system, in fact they do! Animal Crossing Wild World its called, but as with everything I want to own it was overpriced almost everywhere I went, so I sat the desire to buy this game on the sidelines and just kept on about my way. Until one day I was digging through a media bin at the outlet store, when lo and behold there it was, sitting under an NES game (Kung Fu).

I can see how the cartridge alone could easily be discarded with CDs and the lone NES game. Needless to say I snatched it up and got to stepping toward the registers to make my purchase. However much a Nintendo DS cartridge weighs, times .79 cents, so I got it super cheap.

A few weeks later I happened across the case, empty short of the outside insert but it was more than I had before, so I picked it up. Now all I'll need is to find the stupid warning stuffers they put in every DS game and a copy of the manual and I'll have a complete copy for around $1-2. But now that I've spent so much time explaining how it came into my collection, let me tell you how I feel about the game and how it differs from the Gamecube version.

With all sequels there will obviously be changes, some for the better and some for the worse, all depending on your selective point of view. What I originally thought were bad moves in Wild World, after time, turned into things I could live with. But there were still a few things I just simply couldn't grasp.

Firstly, and most frustratingly to myself, is the almost completely impossible to find digging spots. Now given there is a massive difference in screen size between the Gamecube and the DS, I still believe they could have done something to make digging spots a tad more easy to spot. After a while I can find them easier, yet I still find them unnecessarily hard to find.

Secondly is the weird way the world is as if it were a tiny Earth, an orb in space, as you freely walk from one end to the next as the horizon ever changes. Its a minor complaint, but its not as bad as fishing seems to be in this version, these fish have ADHD and couldn't care less than to starve to death, apparently. Again, over time I've learned where to cast and wait for the fish to, painfully, eventually turn around and chase down my baited hook.

But my biggest, and I would dare say almost game ruining, complaint comes with the main mechanic of the game, socialization. In the Gamecube version of Animal Crossing I felt as if I were building relationships with fellow villagers moving in and out of my town (named Hell). But in this version I simply can't make those connections feel genuine; I've had villagers move away and I had totally forgotten they even lived in my Wild World town (also named Hell).

In the Gamecube version I often went on tasks to return something borrowed or borrow something, etc. As where in Wild World, no matter how much I bore another villager with my constant desire to talk, the best I can get is a few lines of dialog before scuttling off because they seem irritated by me being around them. Isn't the whole idea to be social and help other villagers?

Regardless of my personal opinions I'm glad to have it, although I rarely play it just the same as the Gamecube version. I got it so damn cheap that it really isn't a bad piece to just add to the collection, but sadly it isn't nearly half as fun as I thought it would be. One thing that may save this game for me is the Wi-fi connectivity and visiting people throughout the (real) World, so here is my friend code: (3998-7521-3061)!

Weekend Outlet Pick ups!

Today I give you a quick overview of the things I've found at the outlet store this week. I went 3 days and this was an average visit where I didn't find anything mind blowing, yet I didn't walk away empty handed. Let us begin!

First up is a 1988 Nintendo Power backpack featuring both LINK and Mario depicted in a very cartoony way. Even as poorly it may look in this photo, it is much worse in the real world. Sure its in rough shape, but I'm glad I own it and that it even exists!

Next up is a 3rd party Sega Dreamcast controller. Nothing special, but since I was paying by the pound I couldn't let this thing get recycled. It is what it is.

I had been looking for a Nintendo E-Reader for years! I even asked friends in different states to check their local Gamestops to see if they could get one when they were still .99 cent, prior to them discontinuing carrying anything GBA. Nothing ever materialized, until this week!

About 2 weeks ago I picked up a pair of Sega Saturn games that were in a junk PS game case. Turns out I picked up a good copy of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and a scratched copy of Daytona USA that wouldn't play at all. Fast forward to this week, I now have a copy that works perfectly as well as 2 more games, to give my Sega Saturn a good old fashion workout!

Now we reach the items that aren't exactly great, but earn themselves an honorable mention. First are 3 hard cases; 2 of these cases are NES hard cases and the middle one is a multipurpose rental case, without the clear cover. Lastly there is a Famiclone gun that looks entirely too much like the real thing.

Bunch of Savages: a sequel to the first article of the same name.

I love vintage game themed plug n play systems, I really do! Even if I know they're homebrews, such as the DreamGear 50 in 1 I picked up the other day. But this one needed new AV cables installed, much like the Activision plug n play, but unlike that one the cables were complete, it was the tips that had been damaged!

Since I was already at the outlet store, where AV cables are plentiful, I decided to grab a few sets and check over them to see which would be the best to use for this repair. After sorting through a handful of them I decided on this digital camera AV set, they looked the most robust and therefore I figured they would be the best option. I pondered over doing an AV out mod, because there was a small Jazz DV camera in one of the bins, but I quickly decided that keeping this project to a minimum was going to be key.

Running merely on the assumption that this board would already be diagrammed and labeled for me, I pulled out everything and set to taking the system apart. Once apart I found out that it wasn't going to be as easy as I first though, although when I turned the board over I found it wasn't as complicated as I thought either. My soldering skills are nowhere near A1, but I can easily pass for a C average.

A simple desolder of the old wires, a quick setup for the new wires, some wire spinning and setting and resolder everything right back the way it is suppose to be. Again, I'm not a professional so it did take a little while to get everything to fit back together. After I get everything soldered in place and put back together I plugged it into my TV.

It works, and its packed with 50 homebrews, some of them are fun while others aren't, obviously. Anytime I have the chance to quickly fix something I'll gladly pay the 25-50 cents for it at the outlet store. Its building my soldering skills, my critical planning skills and I just find it fun to repair shit!

It bears repeating..

Today I will start off by saying I am not a genius, no matter how much I truly wish I were. But when it comes to the Goodwill outlet store and finding the things I want to find, I seem to rank highest. Anything that has to do with video games or guitar, it seems, I know far more than anyone else there.

I repeat myself on this blog in what may seem to be a boasting, overconfident tone, which couldn't be further from reality. I simply enjoy writing here and showcasing the finds that somehow slip the grasps of the casual and hardcore outlet shoppers alike and make their way into my bedroom. I've honestly never expected to ever see half the things I've found at the outlet store, but somehow I always end up finding something that blows my mind and causes me to dig deeper, stay longer and go more often, such as what I am about to show you.

Again, my ability to identify things much quicker than others is restricted solely to items I'm interested in, I couldn't tell you what a good Hi-Fi system or stuffed animal was if it slapped me in the face. But when it comes to obscure video game items, while everyone is scrambling about for anything with a brand on it, I can almost certainly tell what an item is by its shape or whether I've seen it before online or not. Same with the very rare occasions when a guitar or amp shows up in the bins, which happened just the other day, the outcome was greatly in my favor.

What I saw appeared to be a small practice combo from the 70's, but someone had already pulled it from the bin and placed it in their cart. Carrying on about my hunting I circled back to check some other bins and noticed it sitting alone in a clothes bin, so I gave it a little closer inspection. Right on the face I saw Kalamazoo and Model 1, the name Kalamazoo made me think of Gibson as I knew they were affiliated with Gibson at one point, but my knowledge on the name brand and this amp in particular is extremely weak.

I flipped the amp over and checked the speaker paper, if the speaker was damaged it really wouldn't even be worth buying, but not only did the speaker look to be in great shape, the little Kalamazoo Model 1 is a TUBE amp! Being a solid state person I've never had the chance to try out a tube amp, let alone own one. Given the fact that this was being sold by weight there was a good chance I would be taking it home.

What limited resources there are online about this amp indicate it was built in either 1965, 66 or 67, exciting! Its a fairly simple amp with a decent tube amp tone, really exciting! But the decades of technological changes have really made this amp kind of dangerous to play and costly to repair, bummer!

With a little bit of elbow grease this amp could look great in no time, as I assume from the looks it came straight from someone's attic to the outlet store. I only paid a little over $8 for the amp and a handful of other stuff from the outlet store, so it was super cheap. Sadly for now this thing has to sit beside its big brother -Line 6 Flextone HD and Mesa 4x12- and await the day I can safely test it to see what all repairs it needs.

About 75% of the images I've found of the Kalamazoo Model 1 amps are blackface models, and only a handful of them are the wood grain. I'm really wondering if I've stumbled on to a nice pile of gold, or a stinky pile of shit. If this thing works well as-is, or with minimal upgrades, and sounds as good as the demos I've watched on youtube, this thing is surely a slice of fried gold!

Be diligent and know what you're looking at!

I haven't showcased it here, I did at TVG, but one of the most important skills for shopping at the Goodwill Outlet store is knowing what you're looking for/at and being extremely diligent, yet doing it all quickly. I have yet to become masterful at all these, but I do however know what I'm looking for and if it is video game related, more often than not I know what I'm looking at. And trust me, this comes in handy quite often.

One such case happened to me just the other day, while I was standing shoulder to shoulder with one of my nemeses. We were digging through the exact same bin when I saw his arm shoot through a pile of wires and miscellaneous toys and pulled out a Nintendo 64 expansion pak, as if he had X-ray vision or something. He looked at it, read the front and passed it from one hand to the other, quizzically, before continuing to dig through the pile.

I was kind of confused as to why he looked at it and wondered what exactly it was, after all this group consistently pick up video game items and turn around and sell them for what I can only imagine are insane prices in a flea market. Soon he went back to his cart with a handful of Playstation AV cables, the N64 expansion pak and a few other things, but my mind was still pondering why he seemed so confused about the N64 expansion pak. After a short while of watching him like a hawk he walked back up to a bin he had rummaged through before and tossed the N64 expansion pak right back into the bin.

I could feel my legs dart out from under me, as if they were more excited to get the expansion pak than I was! I had to dig a little before I found it, luckily nobody but myself saw him toss it back in, or maybe nobody but me knew exactly what it was. After snagging the N64 expansion pak I quickly ran to the checkout, since this was all I had to purchase it cost me a total of 4 cents.

I have no intentions of selling this, although I could easily make a damn fine profit from it, I don't need to sell it nor do I want to. I do admit that I will pick up the random electronic Yahtzee or something I already have but know will sell to keep myself from going broke, but I don't purposely act like a dick to get these items the way most people do at the outlet store. But its most rewarding knowing that my knowledge of video gaming items far exceeds their's and I can outsmart them to keep the items I actually want to own from being overpriced and slapped on a shelf, to sit until someone overpays for it.

Bunch of SAVAGES!

It is fair to say I enjoy collecting and playing retro game themed plug n play systems, and with the outlet store I've found tons of them. But given the conditions some of the items I find in the outlet store, some of them need a bit of work before they actually work. And today's example needed me to transplant a vital component that I've never had to do before.

This is an Activision TV Games system. Packed inside are 10 classic Activision games from the good old days of video gaming. But you may notice something missing already.

Yes for whatever reason, someone decided it would be a great idea to not only abandon this thing, but snip off the AV cables as well! A pretty vital item for anything that is a "plug n play" system. Being the ever nerdy, adventurous type of guy who never says no to a repair job, I undertook the project.

As you can see above all there was standing between me and repairing this were 6 simple philips head screws. Once inside I desoldered the remnants of wire hanging from the -lucky for me- labeled board. Another lucky thing was that the solder came right off the wires and stuck in the places the new wires needed to go.

After painstakingly removing the leftover wires from the wire guide, I prepared the cheap AV cable set that I happened to find at the outlet store. After all, if I make a mistake I'd much rather screw up a pair of super cheap cables rather than buy a good pair and fucking them all up. But with the wires all prepped and ready to be soldered into place, all I had to do was twist the wires, melt the solder, put the wires in the right place and wait for the solder to dry, how hard could it be?

Well I did make a bit of a mistake on my first attempt, but after a quick rethink and resolder of a couple wires I had everything in correct order. Sure the solder joints are dull, but it matches the rest of the cold solder joints some Chinese kid got paid 100th of a penny per hour to make. So after all my work and toil does it work?

Yes.

Project Outlet Wii: Complete!

Well I still need (want) an official Wii sensor bar to flesh out the whole rig, but I found something that will work pretty damn well in its place. Before I borrowed the sensor bar from a friend, to make sure my system even worked, I had toyed with the idea of buying a wireless sensor bar, but the idea of constantly changing out batteries quickly detoured me to searching for an official one. But what could I say when I found an extremely cheap and -possibly- reliable alternative at the Goodwill Outlet?

I've seen these games all over the place, Goodwill stores and TONS of them have made it to the outlet bins, so its obvious they're not a very fun game, at least its not something I would have paid retail for. So when I saw the sensor bar sitting in the bin, it quickly dawned on me that this could be a great alternative for the Wii sensor bar. It has 3 infrared LEDs on each side, its wireless -only requiring 3 AAA batteries- and when I got it home it actually seems to work flawlessly as a wireless Wii sensor bar!

It is a wireless sensor for a plug n play game called "Big Buck Hunter Pro", again these things have flooded the Goodwill store shelves and around here are in absolutely no short supply! It looks pretty Redneck, but it works flawlessly and function is way more important to me than the form in which it works. I'm pretty glad it has an LED to tell me its on, so I don't need to change out the batteries as often as the real wireless sensor bars.

I still really want to get the official one, but for anyone looking for a wireless Wii Sensor bar I would highly suggest you check your local Goodwill and snag one of these, with or without the gun. As far as I saw it works just the same as the official, but its wireless. And how could I go wrong at the Goodwill outlet store price?

Nintendo DS Projects UPDATE!

Its been a while since I've made any progress at all with my 2 Nintendo DS handhelds I picked up at the outlet store, and there is good reason! Firstly I refuse to undertake a project I know I can't finish -knowledge acquired from past experiences-, so I tend to over research a project until I completely understand it, at least until its actually time to do the work! Secondly, it takes time to get parts from China!

I ordered a BUS cable for the original DS, removed and bridged the fuses and put it all back together in the broken case. The verdict is: it works! I admit that it isn't the best way to fix the DS, but its for personal usage and all together it probably cost me a total of $4!

The DS Lite is a bit more on the broken side, fixing the top screen isn't nearly as easy as it was on the original DS. But this may give me a chance to swap out the touch screen on my working black DS Lite, another outlet store find. But even so the touch screen in the black DS Lite would go right back into the white one because it still works, but it will only calibrate to about 90% correct.

In time if I feel that the original DS needs a case, and the thing is still working, I'll order one. Right now I'm not willing to invest the extra cash in a system not knowing if it will work tomorrow. But overall I'm pretty excited to have 2 fully functional, yet still beaten up, Nintendo DS handhelds.

Maybe someday I'll get all 3 new cases, completely new parts and get them back on their feet 100%. Right now I'm going to find an external hinge system for the original DS, because I prefer the way it holds GBA games, to keep the new BUS cable in tact and make it usable. But the boost in confidence that I can repair these things was indeed the best part of the project!

Meet Rosetta.

Meet Rosetta, my Washburn A-20. I purchased her from a pawn store in Pontiac, Michigan, but it wasn't love at first sight, it took a few times to finally go in and put her on lay-away. After finally sitting down with her and giving her a test play, we kicked off a bond that has only grown stronger since that day, for many reasons.

I frequented a hobby store just down the road from this pawn store so I always wandered in to see what was new, never really buying anything but I did want quite a few things. It was just your normal, everyday "Mom and Pop" pawn store, and guitars were never in short supply, but rarely did they have one worth the price they were asking. Although decently priced, I had passed this Krylon green granite veiled guitar a few times before, but finally the intrigue of the explorer-ish body shape took a firm hold of me and forced me to plunk down $20 to hold her and eventually pay her off and take her home.

By the time I got her home I had forgotten what she sounded like during my test drive, but I plugged her in and expected a rage of tone and sustain from the lone EMG 85 she had installed. My expectations were quickly dashed, turned into "Why is there a dying cat in my amp?". Since the guitar had absolutely no tone, for a yet unknown reason, I quickly set her aside for my other guitars, but months later I wanted to know exactly what guitar she was.

The headstock was covered with the same paint that covered the rest of the body so I had no clue as to what company made her; I never thought to start removing the paint, something I would later find out wouldn't do me any good anyway. I went online to see if I could find guitars that looked like this one, but running on a body shape alone is damn near impossible. After a lot of searching online I found very few sources of information on the Washburn A-20, but what images I did find assured me that was exactly what I had just bought, but things were extremely, EXTREMELY wrong.

The information shown above proves, without a shadow of a doubt, Rosetta is a Washburn A series, not only that but from the features list I can deduce that she is specifically an A-20. With all the evidence I had collected online, what little there was, I knew that this guitar was missing some holes; I knew it couldn't be a custom order, who in their right mind would order a custom guitar and cover it in Krylon green granite paint? Stupider things have happened, trust me, keep reading to see them!

As you can see in the initial picture I started to slowly strip away the paint and see what was truly underneath, which turned out to be a bondo nightmare! I first removed the control plates and easily popped out the bondo plugging the holes for the pickup selector switch and the additional tone/volume pots in the main cavity. Then I uncovered the neck pickup route, but once I thought I had everything uncovered, I quickly learned I wasn't done just yet, the previous owner redefined stupidity and took it to a whole new level.

The images above are old and I apologize for their lack of quality, but you can clearly see where there once was a hunk of neck-thru wood and a top veneer, there is now a DRILLED route for what I can only assume to be a Kahler the size of the Titanic, strike 1! You can also see that this too was filled with bondo, strike 2! Not only that but you may also be able to see the original, beautiful, top peaking out from under the death shroud it was given, strike 3, you're certifiably a fucking moron, previous owner of this guitar!

To be quite honest I put the guitar away and left it alone for a few years before I even got the desire to look at it again. Its not Rosetta's fault her previous owner's IQ couldn't be any higher than double digits, in the low range I'm sure. I simply couldn't look at what was once such a beautiful guitar now sit in a horrifyingly mangled, perhaps decaying, state as this.

Throughout the few years after I finally decided to pull her out and finish stripping her, yes it took a few years, I finally uncovered the full beauty that was underneath. It was stunning, it was breath taking, it was pitiful that someone gave this guitar to that idiot in good faith that they wouldn't fuck it up, and they failed in every way possible. You want to see how beautiful she once was? Take a look!

As the spec sheet shows she has brass inlay, ebony fretboard, ash body and a 3 piece neck-thru design. The back had some slight overspray on it, but it wasn't too hard to clean up. My only real issue with the back is the dozens upon dozens of dents and dings that she has sustained, but look at that sexy neck and back!

I'm unsure of who, myself or the previous owner, scraped off the headstock logo, but from the way the paint is caked to the side of the missing clear coat I can safely assume it wasn't me. Sadly I can't get a replacement, Washburn won't issue me one because they no longer make this headstock design. Of all the features I wish this guitar had back, the headstock logo is the most important to me.

(Rosetta's headstock, followed by what the original logo looks like.)

I remember calling Washburn one summer and asking them if they could date the production of a Washburn through its serial number, which turned out to be 1980. But when I specifically asked about the Washburn A-20 the guy on the other end of the phone gave me stunned silence for a few seconds before telling me he was pretty sure they never made anything remotely like what I was talking about. Funny story, considering about 2 years later they reissued the A-20 in a beautiful orange-burst flame top!

Time has come and time has gone and the only real change has been a set of after market pickup rings I bought her to make he feel more beautiful about herself, which don't really fit, but I love her so I had to do something. I'm not skilled enough to repair this kind of wound, so I won't even dare try, out of fear I'll only make it worse. But for the past 4 years Rosetta has sat in her box, quietly, while in a perfect world she should be singing her heart out through my amp.

I don't know why the previous owner decided to make such a mess of this guitar, or make such a fool of themselves. I truly wish I could restore her to her former glory, with the orange-burst of the reissue. Sadly, all I can do is leave her to herself and feel helpless to bring her back to life.

Madden Madness!

Since Madden 09 All-Play was included inside my Nintendo Wii it has been getting a lot of play, being that its the most interesting of the two games I currently own for the system. Even though this is supposedly the 09 Madden, it really hasn't changed from the Madden 2002 I used, -just yesterday- to test how well the Wii emulates the Gamecube. That is seven years of advancement in technology but zero progress forward, short of throwing in some feature geared strictly toward this game being on the Nintendo Wii.

I can't remember which, but it all started on the Sega Genesis; I had bought myself a Madden game because it was super cheap and I had never played a Madden in my life, at that point. So I popped the game in and was blown away by how it was more complex than Tecmo's Bowl series, but it wasn't hard to grasp the concept and play easily. I remember all the times I would pit the best team against the worst and see how many times I could score before they could, which usually ended up with me scoring ten touchdowns to their one the whole game.

When it came to handheld versions of Madden it was just an updated roster plastered on a 16-bit version of the game, ported to the Gameboy Advance, nothing more. When I got my first Xbox I quickly grew intrigued as to what Madden looked like on the new generation consoles. Luckily for me with EA's penchant to simply change the rosters from year to year and introduce something minuscule and meaningless the outdated versions were readily available and super cheap!

The graphics were nice, it was good to see fully rendered, 3 dimensional figures, each with their own physique and correct race, although all the faces looked the same. It was this new generation of Madden games that brought in a completely new aspect to the game that distanced my interest in the game. And from what I can tell, hasn't changed from it's implement until at least the Madden 09 All-Play.

Almost anyone who has played at least one Madden game will know John Madden, quite often, states the obvious and sometime even a flat out lie about the game. For example: I was playing a game where the CPU hadn't scored at all the entire first half, upon making a miraculous Hail Mary to the end zone Madden chimed in with something about how this quarterback could make any pass anywhere. Clearly this wasn't true, because this was the same quarterback who had a scored of zero, up until the game decided to cheat.

Which is another issue I have with the new Madden game play, the game will rectify itself with some of the most blatantly asinine calls and plays. As I stated before, on the Sega Genesis, I would overpower a team and see how many times I could scored prior to them scoring, if they did at all, I've rarely found this possible in the new Maddens. When I dominate the first half, if the CPU hasn't scored at all by half time, in the second half I can't make a single catch, my team that was once at its height of discipline now jump offsides, snag face masks like kids in a candy store and can't hold on to the ball if it were super glued to their hands! -STICK EM!-

Perhaps thats all well and good for someone looking for a challenge, but its extremely unrealistic. Much like John's dialog, it hasn't changed from 2002 to 2009 either! Its still the same old insert number/name here has run insert number here for how many yards today here.

I don't hate the new Madden games, but I'm not buying them up each year either, if I see one at the outlet store I'll pick it up and usually don't play it, but I must confess I do own quite a few. They did add some cool features to Madden 09 All-Play based purely on the fact that this is the Nintendo Wii, but much like the console these features get boring really fast! The issue isn't with the console, or Madden 09 All-Play, its the fact that I think Nintendo told everyone developing for the Nintendo Wii they had to toss in something to their game that made full use of the Wii controller and nunchuck, which really just messes up a really good game!

I'm not new to the Nintendo Wii, I've played one before, quite often. But each game seems to be plagued by the same thing, what feels to me like a looming Nintendo, shadowing game developers and forcing them to change up a perfectly good game to work in a silly gimmick. Sure the controllers were interesting, innovative and work really well, but they get old really quick as many people who want to play a game only want to do that, not waggle their arms about like a ninny to make something happen that on every other console is simply up and the right shoulder button.