Scraps of Gold!

I love the Goodwill outlet store, but it seems as though I'm picking up the scraps left in the wake of the madness from the more seasoned veterans. Even though it feels like I'm picking up the scraps, I seem to be picking up scraps of gold! This is partly down to knowing what you're looking for, and a little bit of people just overlooking things that I'm willing to look deeper into.

PC games are often overlooked, I think because nobody really wants to take the time and fiddle around with PC games, no matter how complete it may be. This allows me to swoop in and pick up PC games on the extreme cheap and figure out if they're worth playing later. Besides the Nascar Racing 2003 Season that I picked up last month, another example is Axis and Allies, two completely different games made by both Hasbro and Atari using the same name. It seems both versions are fairly sought after, of which I'll only be keeping the Atari version because it looks like a mix between Age of Empires and WWII.

Opening cases and checking inside has paid off too! What I originally thought was just an empty sleeve for Wii Sports actually still had the disc inside, and where the manual should have been was a roughed up copy of Super Smash Bros. Melee for the Nintendo Gamecube, which still kind of works. I am concerned about the damage on Super Smash Bros. Melee, but it hopefully isn't too damaged.

Saturday was the Goodwill Outlet Blowout sale and I'm pretty excited about what I got. I also checked a Goodwill store and found two Sega Saturn pack-in games. If you know what you're looking for, even scraps can eventually amount to quite a good haul, sometimes it's the smaller scraps of gold that turn out to be worth more than the large scraps of copper people are hunting.

Goodwill sale day highlights

Sadly Sonic Adventures doesn't work, which can be common with Dreamcast games, but for now Super Smash does work. For the price I paid I'm not concerned with the looks of Super Smash or that Sonic Adventures, even though it looks almost brand new, doesn't. The real thrill was finding these things out from under people's noses and adding them to my collection.

Radica Sega Genesis Plug n Play Sound Fix

DISCLAIMER: I am not the originator of this modification. These are not my instructions, I am merely showing that I did the mod and expressing my opinions on the results. Your results may vary, please don't drink and drive, please solder while in a well ventilated room and eat your vegetables an hour before going swimming,etc.

The Radica Plug n Play Sega Genesis was a quick cash grab at the ever growing popularity in the market for retro video games. It was also a buzzing earache to those who bought it and were anything familiar with how the original Sega Genesis sounded. I didn't mind so much, as I only bought them for the sake of having them, not necessarily for the purpose of constant use.

As it goes with the internet age there are many people out there who are willing to quickly aid in solving problems. Such is the mod that fixes the sound for this thing.

The mod is fairly simple, if you know what you're doing, but the parts are extremely small. I was reluctant to give this mod a try, but once I had pushed L3 off the board with my soldering iron I suppose it was too late to back out now. Lucky for me everything went smoothly and the results are AMAZING.

I'm telling you, these components are tiny!

I found information on this mod through The 8-bit Guy's tutorial. Keep in mind there is a real chance to damage the system, but if you're patient and persistent this mod is fairly easy and, again, the results are well worth the time and effort. Before the mod the sound was far too loud, and the biggest detail was you simply couldn't hear Sonic's jumping sound. After the mod the volume seems much lower, although you can turn up the TV and be just fine because now everything sounds much more like the original Sega Genesis hardware.

COP The Recruit: The GTA the Nintendo DS Needed.

Since I received my 2DS for Christmas I have been on an absolute frenzy to find games for both the DS and 3DS side of the hardware, so I can take full advantage of the system. Besides filling the many empty DS cases I've picked up from the outlet store, one of my immediate searches was for a GTA game on the DS, or at least a decent clone. The clear answer was GTA: Chinatown Wars, which harkens back to the old top down, Playstation style of gameplay, rather than the new 3D style.

Unsatisfied with both the current price of GTA Chinatown Wars and the fact that it was top down, I kept looking. Unsurprisingly the DS didn't get very many GTA clones, although the 3DS did get a handful including Driver: Renegade, which I do plan to get sometime in the future. As for the DS side of things the only thing I found that could remotely fill the GTA need was COP: The Recruit, an Ubisoft game that essentially took Driver: Parallel Lines and crammed it into a DS sized adventure. But how does it stack up to one of my most beloved console games ever?

I've made it abundantly clear that I am a rabid fan of the Xbox version of Driver: Parallel Lines. The Wii version looks slightly better, but falls on it's face with the forced injection of the stupid Wii waggle remote gimmick. So how does COP: The Recruit feel? Well it feels like a truncated version of Parallel Lines. The map has most of the same landmarks, feel and look, but many things are adjusted or just plain not there.

COP: The Recruit feels thrown together with dialog seemingly being written by a twelve year old trying to write a police drama, or a fifty year old trying to write a hip police drama, either way is accurate. Not that I fully understand the story, the dialog scrolls fairly smoothly into the box, but doesn't always stay long enough for me to fully digest what has been said. The dialog just flows, regardless of me pressing a button or not. This doesn't affect missions as they are kept within a log on your police issue handheld device.

What would a driving based video game be without vehicles? Well, COP: The Recruit offers a few different vehicles, most of them sharing the same slippy and sliding controls, with only a few being of any real interest. As an officer of the law you'll find it odd how this game forces you to hijack vehicles, as you'll never be given one after loading up your save. Which isn't that big of an issue really as you can just mash the run button and run almost as fast as vehicles in the game. Yes, you read that correctly, you can run almost as fast as vehicles in the game.

This game also falls a bit into the Nintendo gimmick of using the touchscreen for something that it simply shouldn't; the shooting mechanics. Firstly, using the stylus to aim precisely is an exercise in futility, and even once you're aiming at the perpetrator you still need to unload a full clip or two to get them to go down. While the amount of bullets is Ubisoft's problem, the gimmick of using the touch screen for gun battles is, I'm guessing, Nintendo's fault. It gets the job done, but I'm just not a big fan.

To be fair COP: The Recruit only has a few flaws, and it does fill a gap in the market and really shows what could have been an amazing game, given a few more months of polish. I'm not sure if it's just my copy of the game or not, but the screen does jump around a bit at times, but it's nothing game breaking. The game does offer a handful of things to collect, such as taking photographs of famous landmarks around New York City, and breaking down green flashing barricades hidden throughout alleys in the city.

My only real dislike for this game is that it feels like it wasn't polished, even though it reportedly won "multiple awards at E3". The game had so much promise that it even fell into the evil clutches of offering pre-order exclusive missions from Gamestop, the code for which hasn't surfaced online for some odd reason. COP: The Recruit shows us what the DS could handle and perhaps what GTA Chinatown Wars should have been. Regardless it's a fun little portable version, albeit chopped up, of the Driver game that I adore, and I'm glad that I could have some facsimile on the DS to play with.

A Key to a City

With my Xbox 360 being an extreme problem I wasn't sure when exactly I wanted to spend the money on GTA 5. I knew I was going to purchase it, I just wasn't sure when my Xbox 360 would be usable again, or if perhaps a PS3 would fall into my lap. As the middle of 2015 was snaking it's way to year's end I started watching the massive fluctuations in ShameStop's price of used GTA 5 copies, which was enough to keep me away from wanting to buy the game at all for a few more months.

As things settled into November I decided to keep an eye open for the Black Friday sales and see if I could pick up a brand new copy for cheaper than a used copy, which is exactly what ended up happening. Again, my Xbox 360 is a holy terror, it doesn't know when it wants to work and when it doesn't want to work. I've tried the towel wrap to success, while other times it won't work at all. I mean sometimes the towel wrap works, then it won't, then it works again, making completely no sense.

For six months a brand new, box fresh, still wrapped in plastic copy of GTA 5 for the Xbox 360 sat on my shelf among it's Xbox 360 brothers and sisters. In the back of my mind I debated finding a new 360, but knowing Microsoft it would be just as shit as the two (both broken down) I've already got. So far the Xbox One seems to be holding up well, but I'm not sure I want one of those either, simply because the ONLY game I have seen come out that I want to play on Xbox One is GTA 5.

Excited to play GTA 5 I decided it was time to fiddle with my Xbox 360 one more time and see if it would come to life just long enough to give me a taste of what I had been watching on youtube for nearly three years now. With a string of failures under my belt I gave it one last attempt; the outcome was success... for a mere five hours. Whether or not my Xbox 360 will ever live again is beyond my concern at this point, as I feel the piece of shit should spontaneously combust and disappear entirely. What those five ours did give me, however, was finally a look into the world of GTA 5.

I can honestly say that I played through a good deal of the missions, I customized a car and saved it in Michael's garage. I learned you can no longer safely abandon cars you've spent hard earned money customizing and expect it to show back up in your garage, although the cars that are default for each player will do that without problem.

The feeling of being in Los Santos, the beauty of it all, even on the 360 version, and the sheer space of it all made me feel as if I was playing GTA San Andreas. The vehicles felt amazing to drive, the hustle and bustle of the city, the relaxing coastal waters and various desert towns, it was all there to greet me and draw me in.

I wish my Xbox 360, and the Xbox 360 console in general, wasn't such a piece of shit. Even though I opened my copy for 360, if I found myself faced with a working PS3 that was reliable I would do my best to track down a copy for it too. Even though I prefer to be a step behind in the video game market, because it's cheaper, I still think I waited too longer to find myself lost in Los Santos.

Nascar Racing PC Games

When I was a kid I had a fleeting interest in Nascar, which I eventually grew out of entirely. What I didn't grow out of entirely were the Nascar video games that adorned my adolescents like posters on my bedroom wall. Starting with Papyrus's Nascar Racing I felt as if I were truly a part of a travelling circus of raw American horsepower racing around in a circle at high speeds. This gave way to the followup Nascar Racing 2, which I played for far more years than perhaps I should have.

Nascar Racing 2 was really the PC Nascar game that started it all for me. The sheer number of mods, car skins and so many other options that Papyrus had thrown in kept the game fresh and alive for quite some time. When Nascar Racing 1999 Edition came out I had to download the demo and see if it was worth hanging up my illustrious Nascar Racing 2 career to switch over to. The answer was no.

Nascar Racing 2 was the reason why I started making websites. I just remember a large number of websites that were offering car skins and mods, and I wanted to be a part of that, so I started building my own websites and putting my crappily made skins up for download.

As years came and went my interest in Nascar Racing 2 faded, as did Papyrus's license to make Nascar games. Soon EA took control and was pumping out the Madden of Nascar games; just the same old shit year after year with little to nothing added and even less fun than it had ever been. I own quite a few Nascar games on the Playstation and even one for the Xbox, but reality set it and I realized that one was all I needed. It wasn't until a few weeks ago that I realized just how true that statement was.

One was all that I needed and that one was Nascar Racing 2003 Season. Papyrus had outdone themselves with this one, as well as the massive modding community that still stands behind it thirteen years later! At first I didn't expect much, but NR2003 really took control and forced me to dig in deeper, much the same way Nascar Racing 2 did.

At first I was simply some unknown racer doing what I always do; pushing my favorite driver (Terry Labonte) around the track so that we're the only two cars on the lead lap. Before I knew it I was downloading mods, installing car packs and custom car skins. NR2003 is amazing, and it surprised even me. I knew the game was hard to find, I knew the game was expensive to buy, but I truly never expected to have this much fun.

NR2003 takes me back to 1999, sitting at my Mom's computer for hours on end, downloading mods that ranged from open wheel, Australian V8s and even just a bunch of Mini Coopers. If nothing else NR2003 has caused a massive wave of nostalgia to crash over me, even though it wasn't the game those memories were started with, it still stirs deep. NR2003 has an amazingly deep selection of mods that change the game play to nearly anything you could ever want. This is one of those rare cases where the game may never truly die, NR2003 may live on forever through the endless love and dedication from it's fans.

The Blowout sale

This weekend was the infamous Goodwill 50% off sale, and at the outlet stores it's called the Blowout Sale, which is really just twenty cents off per pound. Today wasn't exactly a nerds dream come true, but I did happen to find some really good stuff. But for everything I bought I paid less than three dollars total, so I can't complain.

Starting from the top left and working my way chaotically downward, I got: a Commodore C8 calculator, a Mr. Potato Head Darth Vader helmet, N64 box (empty), Nascar Racing 2003 Season, Gameboy shaped cellphone cover, a Corvette Micro Machine(s), Blaster Master for the PS1, Marvel Superhero Squad for the Wii, a rigid shell case for my 2DS, a set of game dice, a case for Battle Arena Toshindin (the game was there, Not for Resale AND was shattered...) and Nintendo Game and Watch Octopus.

Yep, all that stuff cost me less than three dollars at a cost of seventy nine cents per pound. Things didn't go as smoothly as I'd hoped, but it was the blowout sale, so it's to be expected. I'm looking forward to spending time with the cool stuff I bought as well as the next trip to the outlet store.

Gamecube Controller Cable Repair

Last year I wrote an article about a platinum Gamecube controller I bought from the outlet store many years ago. For unknown reasons the plug had been completely cut off, rendering the controller effectively useless. Regardless of any possible reasons, I decided it would be well worth my time to spend the small change on the poor thing. If for nothing else other than to use it as parts for potential future Gamecube controllers.

This past weekend I was at the new outlet store and came across a pair of Gamecube controller cable extensions. At first I tossed them into my bag just because they were video game related, but after bringing them home and finding that one of them didn't work, other plans started to formulate. The port in which you plug the controller into wasn't working correctly, so I decided to snip off that end and use the cable to repair the little platinum Gamecube controller that could.

The controller and donor extension cable.

After cutting off the end and exposing all the wires, I decided to map out which wire went where; lucky for me the color codes matched exact to the normal Gamecube controller cable. All I had to do was carefully remove the OEM controller cable, tin up the ends of the extension cable wires and solder them into place.

My haphazard way of connecting the new cable

The OEM way of connecting the cable

Admittedly my soldering skills aren't the prettiest, nor is my soldering iron, but after a few minutes of sharp concentration I had all 6 wires soldered into place. Again, she ain't pretty, but she'll do! She'll do...

After a quick test the controller is now fully functional again. I'm still cautiously optimistic, to say the least, but for now everything works as it should. Even with my soldering skills this was a fairly simple undertaking. In researching how to change out the cables I've found the typical, lazy internet answer of "No way man!", "Can't be done", "Impossible", and many other answers from people who are too lazy or stupid to try it for themselves.

The finished product!

If you're thinking about doing this project I highly suggest you understand how to map the pinout for the controller, as I felt that's the hardest part. I mean, look at that soldering job, it's hideous! But it works, and as long as it continues to work, that's all I need. Just another case of outlet store trash being turned into a fully working product once more.

Mario Kart vs Mario Kart 7 vs My Sims Racing: DS Showdown!

For Christmas I received a Nintendo 2DS, which came with a code to download Mario Kart 7. I held on to the code hoping I would find a physical copy in the future, or perhaps I could trade it to someone who was more into having a digital version. As my birthday arrived, three months after Christmas, I decided it was best to just use the code and make do with what I was given.

After having the DS version of My Sims Racing for a few months, I was a bit underwhelmed by Mario Kart 7. Mario Kart 7 is pretty much the same as any other Mario Kart, except now you have to worry about collecting coins and holding on to them throughout the race, while any weapon used by an opponent, and sometimes even yourself, can quickly and easily deplete them. After a while I felt like Mario Kart 7 was just too repetitive for it's own good as all I was doing was racing, re-racing and yet still racing the same tracks over and over trying to collect the coins.

I will say that My Sims Racing isn't exactly the best kart racing game, but at least it feels better and offers more than Mario Kart 7. In the Wii version you were restricted to a top down, board game style map where you would go from point to point and then appear in races to help people do random things. In the DS version you actually get to drive people around, sure it gets boring but you're now driving them around, instead of a simple point to point with a single press of the directional pad. Where Mario Kart 7 has menus, My Sims Racing has actual driving, albeit with shallow objectives, but actual driving.

The online feature for Mario Kart 7 didn't really help me like it anymore either. All the online multiplayer option did was make me feel stupid, because I hadn't played enough of the single player and collected enough coins to unlock new, better parts to be more competitive in the online mode. Why would I want to play online if it's going to penalize me for not having played enough of the single player side of the game? And why would I want to keep playing the single player campaign when all it is is me playing the same tracks over and over, stressing about being in first and having to cross the finish line with 10 coins?

I'm no stranger to Mario Kart, I loved Mario Kart 64. Sure Mario Kart 64 was more of the same, but it made me want to keep playing, it made me want to keep racing and doing better. I quite like Mario Kart Double Dash too. The graphics are great, the game play is fun, although I still find it to be more of the same, I like the power up weapons, as well as having a co-driver is sometimes quite entertaining. Mario Kart 7 just doesn't have the same effect on me.

Let's get back to My Sims Racing for a little bit. In some ways it's better on the DS than it is on the Wii, and vice versa, because they're clearly two different games with the same name. Even though the DS version should be the weaker version, in many aspects it comes out ahead. The main thing that sticks out to me is that you get to freely roam and drive around a few different sections of town, as where the Wii version has what I thought would be more suited to a portable version; a slimmed down map screen.

My Sims Racing offers pretty much the same experience as it's Wii counterpart as well as what Mario Kart 7 offers, and then some. You have power up weapons, drifting that fills a turbo meter, although you need to manually use it, track shortcuts, and the list goes on and on. I truly can't think of something Mario Kart 7 offers that My Sims Racing doesn't offer, apart from it's graphics, which even so aren't too bad.

As I was growing ever more weary of Mario Kart 7 I started playing more My Sims Racing, but all that was about to change. You see, a few months ago my girlfriend had bought me a copy of Mario Kart for the DS, the original one, and soon there would be a third game on the race track. After receiving Mario Kart DS I quickly became addicted. Why? I can only assume because I'm not fucking stressed out by trying to collect those fucking coins!

Yes, almost instantaneously I was addicted to Mario Kart DS. Sure there were menus again and sure I was racing the exact same tracks over and over again to unlock new circuits, new racers and new karts, but I wasn't stressed out if I was smashed with a red shell or fell off the side of the track, because there are no coins to lose.

I don't hate Mario Kart 7, I just feel that a game should be fun and items earned should be earned and retained, not lost over every single teeny tiny little infraction that sometimes aren't even your fault. The original idea was to race and do your best, the rewards will come. Mario Kart 7 seems to say race, do your best and even so I'm still not going to allow you to obtain what you really wanted.

My Sims Racing is a phenomenal game with a lot of strong points as well as it overall feeling like a Mario Kart clone. It's not that the characters are bad, because they're not, it's just a simple matter of familiarity. Over the course of my life I've become familiar with most, if not all, of the characters I can use in Mario Kart, as where I haven't the slightest interest in why any of the Sims in My Sims Racing need me to take them across town, all I know is that I need to do it to progress.

Mario Kart DS is an amazing game, even though the graphics look really choppy and dated. Going from Mario Kart 7 back to MK DS was like night and day, and it helped me suss out why I disliked Mario Kart 7 so much. Maybe because I'm more a fan of older games, maybe because I don't like to be stressed out and on edge when I'm playing a game, which only leads to me making more mistakes within said game. I can't say for sure why, but I absolutely prefer Mario Kart DS to My Sims Racing. And I prefer My Sims Racing to Mario Kart 7. All three games are good kart racing games in their own rights, but it seems, to me, the older and simpler wins.

Wii Wheel Review

I have a habit of doing reviews about obsolete things on this blog, and this time won't be any different. After collecting a handful of Wii racing wheels I figured I may as well explain and complain, where applicable. So, here we go.

First up is the wheel that came with a ton of other items in the Wii Fit Plus box I bought a few months ago. Made from a thick, and weirdly textured, plastic, this one is sturdy but still feels cheap. It holds the Wii remote quite well and allows easy access to the B button as well as accommodates the wrist band. Compared to the others I feel this would be best for larger hands. It's not the most uncomfortable, but not comfortable.

Next is a rather small, but sturdy, wheel made from a smooth black plastic with a golf ball style texture on the handles. Open design makes it smaller than necessary, but comfortable to hold. Holds the Wii controller well and offers the same round wrist strap hole as the official wheel with easy access to the B button. I would suggest this one for kid hands or small to medium adult hands.

Now we reach the third party wheel seemingly made from the same mold as the official. The plastic's texture is smooth, but if you own an official Nintendo wheel you will easily be able to feel the cheaper plastic. Other than the plastic quality everything is the exact same, with exception of the extremely cheap B button on the back, but still does it's job.

And finally we reach the genuine article. What else would we expect from Nintendo than an extremely sturdy and light weight plastic. Accommodates the Wii remote perfectly, as to be expected and this time the B button feels absolutely solid. The only drawback that I've found is that there seems to be only one comfortable way to hold it. That includes the black clone of this wheel too, it's simply just the design.

I would suggest staying clear of the large wheel, as it feels cheap and personally it just seems to get in the way, rather than making the experience better. The small steering wheel is good for kids or adults with small to medium hands, but isn't really all that much fun either. I would highly recommend the official wheel and maybe, if you're on a budget and find it cheaper, the third party clones. The official wheel design just seems to make you feel like you're actually racing and it helps make the experience that little bit more fun. At first you will notice the difference between the genuine and the knock off, but once you're focused in on the game you may not notice at all.

The outlet store rides again!

After having a miserable time with a pair of purchases from an online site that's name may rhyme with cramathon, I decided the cure for extremely long shipping waits and one product coming in broken was to hit the outlet store. After four hours of bin diving, book tossing and cheerful banter with some fellow outlet shoppers I walked away $3 poorer, but richer for the experience. Although the outlet store is always hit or miss, it's nice to at least have new things to occupy my mind.

The items I found were, from the bottom right: three Nintendo DS games (My Word Coach, Flash Focus and MLB 2k12), as well as some weird little Megaman Battle Chip thing, Space Spartans for the Intellivision, an Atari 2600 power adapter, a small Sonic LCD game from a happy meal, a Playstation 2 DVD remote, a Nintendo Wii wheel, a Link AR card, 2 Nyko Rechargeable Wii battery packs, a PSOne style Playstation controller extension cable, two Nintendo DS Lite charging adapters, a TNT and Iron ore Minecraft blocks, a seemingly complete (minus the game) Pokemon Emerald box, two replacement Wii cases, Pokemon Blue manual, and finally the charger for the Nyko battery packs.

Everything seemed cheery until things started falling apart. I had my suspicions that the Wii wheel and the Pokemon Emerald box were both fakes, which I later confirms. The wheel feels ever so slightly cheaper than the official one, but looks almost dead on. The Pokemon Emerald box and manual just aren't up to the same standards as an official GBA game box, of which I have a handful to officially compare. What I found weirdest about the Pokemon box was that it was brand new, I mean it was literally brand new and never even folded up to hold the cartridge. Still a nice little conversation piece.

The two DS Lite chargers seemed to work fine when I tested them, so that's all well and good. The DS games are pretty lackluster, but it's always good to find DS games at the outlet store. After cleaning up everything I sat back and figured I may as well test the Wii rechargeable batteries. I pushed it into a controller, popped it on the recharging station and hoped for the best.

At first there was no response at all, none. After I jiggled the controller a little bit the blue light came on. Good, at least this thing is doing something! Suddenly the light turned to green. What!? It's charged already? No no no, let me test this. The Wii remote lit up with all four lights flashing blue. Then three. Then two. Then one. Within a matter of 30 seconds the Wii remote had sucked all the life out of the battery pack that the charging station just told me was full.

After checking with a multimeter one battery was still holding 2.7 volts, but the Wii remote was too power hungry and that wasn't enough. The other battery refused to give any sort of reading at all, even though it did the exact same as the previous one; blue light quickly turned to green. I cleaned the contacts on the batteries recharging ports, the battery contacts for the charging station as well as the ones that go inside the controller. After testing again I found that both batteries charge, slightly, but don't go above 2.8 volts, which clearly both of my (Officially mind you) Wii Remotes just won't accept.

It was only $3, and I had a great time digging through the bins. Sometimes it's not necessarily about the treasures at the end of the journey, it was the fun you had along said journey. Missing the outlet store as much as I had for the past few years has really made me appreciate the little things I find at the outlet store much more. They're not solid gold scores, but they're absolute brilliant finds to me.