What's new Pussycat too?

Nowt wrong with being organised, but Tony takes it to the extreme, my head could not put up with that amount of control, when I was manager I had to do admin, but I had my little, non complicated system, Tony on the other hand just makes it more complex

If he keeps it up he may become a customer of the service he works for

 

Just got my PS Vita back today after having it modded and setup with all the emulators by a local guy. Very nice machine and really convenient. Think it is going to become my go-to travel companion on holiday now

 

Very nice, Al.

Do give us a demo then of your fave stuff on this machine and why it's the dog's danglies as I aint a Scooby about these things.

Have a great weekend, mate, and here's to the Red Devils turning the Mags over Sunday... UNI-TED!

 

Would like to hear your thoughts on the Vita Al, although I'm not really as in to things now, I still like to hear about stuff.

As I'm no longer on Atari Age I've not seen hide nor hair of Matt bar his one post on here, I'm sure he's ok and just making sure his net usage is lower. I wonder if that major rail car spill of toxic chemical's wafted anywhere near him, looked horrendous, true acid rain that bubbled when it landed, loads of dead animals and not great for the folk all around Ohio and nearby states.

Very odd that they actually set it all alight, therefore spreading it everywhere...Very odd...

 

Not sure I'd make a very good videographer Andy, but it's nice to have such good emulation on a small package. Mainly made up of racing games in my case of course, but there is a nice program included that easily lets you download other titles without trawling through lots of romsites.

UNI-TED? I never knew you were a Newcastle supporter mate
Seriously, I'll be tuned right into that game after the Celtic v Rangers cup final up here. Hope both our teams get the results we want!

 

See Celtic triumphed, mate, and the loud cheers from the Red Devils fans I was sat with this afternoon were matched only by the Sunderland Mackems rejoicing in the defeat of those fat black and white bloaters who thought by taking over Trafalgar Square and many of the London bars, that was enough to guarantee em victory...PMSL!! ;-)

Q)
How many years now since the Geordies won owt and will they have to go another 50 odd years until they get anywhere near again?

Answers on the beer gut of a fat Geordie...



and how Eddie Howe had a reet selection "headache" in the days leading up to the cup final:



PMSL!!!

 

Hehe, reet cracking video that

Good results all round then Andy mate. And got to say, very glad that Howe didn't come to Glasgow last year, big Ange has became an absolute legend amongst us Celtic fans.

 

Further play with the PS Vita and the two things that strike me are the quality of the display, even this non-OLED version. Really sharp and with very nice colour reproduction. The other things is the sound, very good with excellent stereo effects for such a small device. Not been overly fussed with any of the actual Vita games yet but it plays my PSP, SNES, Pc Engine and Atari 7800 titles perfectly

 

Great to hear, Al.
Sounds very impressive.
Please send a link or two to any You Tube clips that demonstrate some of your fave titles being played when you get chance.
Great win tonight for the Codheads, btw, winning 2-1 in the Cup away at Southampton.
Get in there, Harry the Haddock!



https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/match-reports/grimsby-town-pull-mammoth-fa-8204126

 

The Codheads. Never heard that nickname before, brilliant!

I do love a good FA Cup underdog story. It's the romance of it all. Ever since I was a youngling watching Saint & Greavsie on telly at lunchtime on cup final day it always gets me excited for the game. I suppose back then it was one of the few matches you actually had the chance to watch live on the old telly box.

My two English teams are Portsmouth and Norwich, hopefully get a visit to see the latter when Iatter when I'm on holiday end of next month. Oh yes, massive Melchester Rovers fan as well

Do you have a favourite Scottish side Andy?

 

Blimey, I remember when Ian Saint john was still playing..

I don't know too many Scottish clubs, but when I was still at school in Marlow, one of the petrol giants (think it was Esso) was doing a set of embossed club badges that you collected with every purchase of petrol. Being kids we pestered the garage staff for free ones. I remember liking Celtic and Kilmarnock's badges, don't think I'd actually seen the clubs play back then (pure English league on TV).

 

I'm laying in bed with a stomach bug today and in between bouts of dashing to the loo I'm kind of browsing a book I picked up from my local library. It's a massive collection of all the Panini football sticker albums from the late 70's into the 80's. Brings back lots of memories.

 

Commiserations, Al, with yer bad guts but it did get you out of work and instead yer head into a good book in bed instead so not all bad news, my mate.
I will post my collection incl my FULL 1978 Football League album which I must have spent £30-40 on as a kid (a bloody fortune back then) and also mention the story of my mate Dave Robbo who has ever since been known as "The Jew" for also managing to fill his... without ever buying a single 5p packet as they were in those days
Nice work, Al.
Another post bringing back the ACE memories!



Hehe, Archie Gemmill n co - these boys should've gone all the way in Argentina but fate conspired otherwise...

 

So no new bits & pc's this week as I've been laid low with the stomach bug. It has given me a little bit more time with the Vita though, and I'm still impressed with it. N64 emulation is pretty good as well. Runs Ridge Racer 64 nicely.

Also been reading the book of GamesMaster, all about the TV show. I wasn't a big fan of it back in the day but it's an interesting read none the less and gives you an insight into the show and how it was produced. Need to finish it this week though as it's loaned from the local library and has to be back by next weekend....

 

Good old Dominik Diamond, notoriously HATED by the software community but, by the sounds of it, by everyone including his parrents

I said before about him swanning around a trade show with his little entourage, went past the Team 17 booth where I was having a chat, he waved at them and carried on to get a chorus of "w****r" from them and I think it was the Gremlin lot,,,Not sure, memory card issue

Never understood why Patrick Moore did the show (apart for money), he wasn't a gaming sort and tremendously serious at the best of times. Tried to talk to him once on the Euston Road near the station, he nodded and sort of bumbled off with no word at all. I would not mind, but I was a keen astronomer growing up, and the Sky at Night show was a much-needed watch..

Hope the old tum is on the mend Al..

 

I think Diamond has calmed down a lot these days. He has been to an Edinburgh retro club a couple of times and came across as a lot nicer than he did back in the day. Wouldn't be hard I know lol. He is very honest in the book that he was a bit of a t*t back then and frequently high or drunk.

Stomach feeling a lot better now Paul, thanks. Although currently having problems sleeping instead. Ah well, lets me catch up on email I suppose.

 

Sorry to hear about the sleeping, Al, not good when you have a day job.. I did wonder when I saw the time you typed this..

I hope Dom is better now, him and Timmy Mallett rubbed people up the wrong way at the shows. Not sure why Mallett got such a hard time, he was just going around hitting people with that inflatable mallet prop. I guess people didn't like that show 'whack a day' or whatever it was called. He came across as a person who just wanted to be liked.

I suppose slapping people around the head with a fake hammer goes against that

 

Just finished the book before returning it to the library today. It's actually made me feel like watching a few episodes now I have some of the back story. Recommended read even if you aren't a fan of Diamond.

 

In fact this will probably be a bit of a retro reading weekend as I catch up on the latest Crash, Amtix and Fusion magazines. I subscribe to Readly and they are included in the monthly sub, not sure if I'd buy them individually. Unless they bring out an A8 or ST version that is.

Also hoping that the latest issue of Pixel Addict is in the newsagents. Great magazine and I really enjoy the monthly trip to WH Smiths to pick up the latest issue.

 

I'm not much of a reader Al,I basically only read what I have to, mostly manuals. Normal books have never been a big thing with me, my mother was the reader in the family, she loved a good fiction book, so we got her quite a collection, and she read them all. I on the other hand just speed read what needs to be read and look at the pretty pictures.

I learn stuff very easily in most cases (bar maths) so it’s not an issue for me, just can't be bothered

Serena is sat in Sheffield that this moment and it's bloody cold there, just before she arrived they had 40cm of snow over a period, but thankfully the snow turned to sleet and melted most of it. She's off with her mates to Meadowhall to look around, told her it was huge there, shame she's almost broke. Not been to Yorkshire in years, used to know it all pretty well as Wombwell was our head office (as I've said before). Very nice up there, would have loved to get out and see the countryside, but it was all work and very little play.

Have fun with the mags, hope the weather clears up for you.

 

The weather has been pretty good here, only a little drop of snow. I even went out for a bike ride on my vintage Raleigh this morning and it was fine. Probably take one of the other bikes out tomorrow morning before I go and pay a visit to my best friend growing up. He managed to come off his new mountain bike last week and eded up with broken collar bone/ribs/nose and collapsed lung! Told him, we're getting too old for this sh#t!

 

Wow, all that from falling off a bike, he must have been hammering it. The collar bone bit sounds dead painful, my mate fell down his stairs and broke his, complained about the pain constantly afterwards. A while back my daughter sent me a YT clip of people out for a ride in the UK, the road was obviously very iced up and as they all one by one tried to turn the corner, boom, down they went, must have been around 20 in the end at various times.

 

Strange thing is Paul, I checked out his bike when I was over and it doesn't have a scratch on it!

I try not to go out cycling when it's icy, just too risky. Saying that I haven't bmx'd or road cycled for years, nowadays it's all about leisure and state of mind. And coffee and cake

 

My bike usage was going through forests doing semi BMX stuff or just casual bike riding along tow-paths up to my mate's place, just casual biking. I used to ride from East London to west London via the West End for a couple of years, but it got so dangerous I stopped. I'd be wary to ride on roads now. I actually had a polish guy ride out of a blind turning without looking, straight in front of me, I was only doing about 22mph so stopped sharply, but he was just so "oh well" about it. A few mph more and I'd have hit him square on, one sec the road was empty and then he pops out from behind a lorry without a care in the world, no edging out, just rode straight out of the T junction without waiting to see if there was traffic.

He got lucky, most people use that bit of road like Brands Hatch, he best think about what nearly happened, or he's brown bread sooner rather than later. What with these stupid electric scooters and the 'youth' who now walk out in to the road making you slam on the brakes, it's too mad on the road.

 

It's been a minute since I've posted about any new purchases in my favorite thread of show-and-tell. But it's also been a bit since I've spent frivolously on my hobbies. I have only purchased a few electronic components for a few dollars for a few repairs in recent weeks or months. Nothing to brag about, the parts and repairs were for my Dreamcast and two 3DO consoles.

But, I currently have a tidy bit of kit headed my way and expected by weeks end.

This includes 4 used Metal Type IV cassette tapes from 3 different sellers, but from the best companies most premium versions and once properly erased with my tape deck's proper tape erase system, they will be as good as new for recording. Metal tapes don't stretch like the Type I and II cassette tapes that are plastic and sprayed with the magnetic recording medium. Metal tapes are, well magnetized metal. They also have higher quality cases and tape mechanisms for smoother recording and playback and less distortion introduction. NOS of these same tapes are selling for $50-100 each, used $25-50, so I got a great deal on these at an average of $12 per tape, including shipping costs. Now I can back up my high-end DMM vinyl records to another analog medium that is capable of recordings with the same fidelity and clarity along with my tape deck's noise reduction system, as the original LP's. And it didn't cost me as much as the actual LP's themselves! These are 90 and 100 minute tapes, so I will be able to fit a full album per side of tape, so I can back-up 8 of my LP's with these 4 tapes.



I also was on a waiting list to be notified when some Rush remastered audiophile reissue EP LP's were back in stock, and several of them are, so I bought one of them already. Again, these are the super-high-end quality ones produced by the now legendary Acoustic Sounds Studios and manufactured across the street at the sister company Quality Records. The same I posted a documentary video about a couple pages back, if any of you took the time to watch the very interesting behind the scenes look into a modern LP and tape company that settles for nothing less than the best possible quality all around, eclipsing original release print quality of the original albums. Rush commissioned them to do all the limited edition and anniversary box sets of their LP's. These are incredibly reasonably priced LP's selling new with production and print quality that eclipses the original LP prints, for half the price of what the original LP's sell for in used but good condition! $25-35 dollars! I couldn't find this particular album, even used, for less than $150 on eBay or Discogs.

https://store.acousticsounds.com/index.cfm?get=detail&Title_ID=103725





I'm also expecting a new Atari Jaguar game I ordered from the Atari Age Store this week. But I'll show-and-tell about it when it arrives, along with a custom rotary controller I made from a jaguar controller that will work with the new game and Tempest 2000 and a couple other free homebrew games.