pixel wrote: Fri Nov 08, 2024 7:27 am
I bought a few Anbernic RG35XX Plus handhelds as Christmas gifts. I'm planning to ticker with the OS and ROMs until December and then give them to my parents and siblings. $50 (plus SD cards and charger) was cheap enough for their intended purpose. Video games dropped off after the PS1 in my childhood home, so I think it'll be fun to gift a pocket system that can play older systems.
They should be fun presents for everyone.
After using an Anbernic for a few weeks, I'd seriously reconsider using one of these cheaper handhelds over a modded Gameboy. The RG35XX Plus (or SP) seem to be perfect for 2D games. SotN seemed to run well when I tested it this weekend. My only hangup is that the OS options aren't great. But the stock OS and the provided games on the SD card have improved significantly. No Sonic or Mario games to be found, but a lot of other stuff was on there. And no Chinese names or weirdo numbered game lists to be found.
Xbox one / X / Series:
Forza Horizon 2.
Forza Horizon 5.
Need for speed hot pursuit remastered.
Because it's nice to have discs when things disappear from gamepass.
Also, my 360 with my second and third profiles seems to have died, so it's the end of an era and I'll have to start using my main profile again.
Command and Conquer remastered. Steam.
I'm usually against remakes, after all if a game has been made properly in the first place it's a timeless classic.
But this was very cheap, and Red Alert is one of those timeless masterpieces. Command and conquer is a good game, but the original red alert is as timeless as chess, or poker, or running... So I'm ok with a new set, cards or shoes because the core of the game will always be solid.
The game from the limited play so far has been good.
I've noticed that a few of the units move weirdly, and having health stay showing when a unit is no longer selected is jarring and confusing... But I so appreciate being able to have proper classic music playing with the fancy new graphics.
It's a little odd they've made the game look so damn good, but left the cutscenes in the 90's.
If there's a way to fix my unselected units showing health I'll be playing it quite a lot.
I purchased a new PS5 optical disc drive for $100.
I'll get the pro to match it when I see it under a grand or whenever GTA/Judas comes out.
My PC needs an upgrade, but I can't afford $1300 for a half decent GPU and then the $1200 for the rest of the system so console peasant only for this generation.
A new Xbox 360. Got another super slim complete with 500gb HDD, hoping to put my old drive in and it'll work. $20.
A 6 button mega drive controller. Free. I don't even currently own a mega drive, but it'll be fun to clean up.
And a Tears of the Kingdom 2025 wall calendar.
After last year's Dreamcast Calendar I wanted another Dreamcast one for this year, but there isn't one... So the $7 for this will have to do.
my spare Dreamcast (which is stock) has picked up the resetting issue again and I only fixed it less than a year ago, at this point, the stock power supplies are quarter of a century old, so it's time to either recap or replace them.
I spent all my money on the system so Astrobot, Sackboys big adventure and PS+ will have to wait for a little bit.
Fortunately I have a bunch of games from PS4 I can play in the mean time. I've played REZ infinite, and now I'm watching Ghostbusters from 1984 on 4K before I go to sleep.
Dualsense controller (Midnight black)
Make Way (PlayStation store)
And got given a bag of Xbox 360 hardware, no idea if it's any good, but I'll give it a look. Console and various wires controllers...
Nothing else much in gaming BUYING, but if I can find a cheap 30th anniversary edition dual sense (by cheap I mean brand new and only $30 more than RRP) I'll find the funds for it.
I've been testing some 360 hardware, and upon remembering how the 360 control is probably the most useful and versatile controller ever made I've bought a whole stack of new thumbsticks, not only to restore the worn ones in this new lot, but to restore my personal ones which are looking a little tired after many years.
The only single downside with the 360 controller, aside from the bad D-pad is the little connectors in the battery boxes. It's a terrible design having that little pin that only gets pushed in to complete the circuit when the holder is fitted to the controls, so I got a bunch of battery boxes too so mice sneezing doesn't make the controls disconnect every 5 minutes with my old and tired ones.
I like that the 360 controller used AA's, because it's meant that unlike sixaxis'eses and dual shock 3's, 4's, joycons etc etc even after 20 years, 360 controls still just work with minimal effort and cost.
The only knock I have for the Xbox 360 controller is the lack of clarity around hall effect upgrade kits. I'd love to refurb my collection with better analog sticks. All I see online are Xbox One hall effect kits. Are those compatible with Xbox 360 controllers?
Your post reminded me of my favorite original Xbox controller. Mad Catz/Gamestop made a 2.4G wireless mini controller which were affordable in 2003 terms. I used them in college and the d-pad specifically felt great with 16-bit emulators. Time to find out if that's correct today! I ordered one off of eBay to see, because my original controllers are long gone. It looks like junk but I swear that I loved playing games with one!
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Me personally, I'd argue for easily replaceable Li-ion battery packs in my dream world. But I'll take AAs over a pain-in-the-ass battery pack that's hard to replace.
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Micro Center released a big stock of Nvidia RTX 5070s as well as launching the AMD 9070 and 9070 XTs today. I originally planned to get a 5070, but after seeing all the positive reviews of the new AMD cards that dropped today, it made me rethink my decision.
When I got there, though, I found that while MSRP for the 5070 and 9070 XT may be $600, the absolute cheapest cards they were selling started at $750 and went as high as $930. There’s no way I’m paying $150 over MSRP for a third party card just because it has slight overclocking.
The 9070, however, was price right at its $550 MSRP, so I ended up settling with that. It’s not the powerhouse of the XT, but it benchmarks right near the 5070 levels, so I think it will be good enough. I mean, I’m going from a 3070 regular to this, so anything would be an upgrade really.
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars (Switch)
I wanted a physical version of it, so grabbed the Switch version.
melancholy wrote: Fri Mar 07, 2025 1:33 pm
The 9070, however, was price right at its $550 MSRP, so I ended up settling with that. It’s not the powerhouse of the XT, but it benchmarks right near the 5070 levels, so I think it will be good enough. I mean, I’m going from a 3070 regular to this, so anything would be an upgrade really.
It is getting good reviews, and you got it for the right price. You should get a nice bump over the 3070.
I just tested it with a few levels in Mega Man X and it feels real nice. A little sacrilege to play an SNES game on a Sega-style controller I know. But my thumb could go from buster shots to dashes and jump after I got used to the layout.
It was 60 percent off and yeah, it's been pretty fun. Gameplay felt really tight with a wired controller. I'm still going to be mad about the music when I get to Casino Night and Ice Cap zones.
Astro Bot. $78. (JB price match and a birthday $10 off coupon)
I'll get at least $80 of fun from it, not sure I would have gotten $100-110 worth from it though.
Been a LOOOOOOOONG time since I've played a platform game this good (not including the pack in Astros playroom which while a lot of fun was more sort of tech demo and PlayStation museum than full proper platform game, but I would say playroom is the best tech demo I've ever played). I played for 7 hours without moving or blinking, and if I didn't have real life tasks getting in the way, and then getting too tired to hold a control I'd still be playing it now.
