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sniffnoyKevin has something called a "Voyager PowerJoy", or perhaps it's a "PowerJoy Voyager" (I think it's the latter[3]). He ordered it off of QVC. Essentially, it's this little thing that looks like a GameBoy, but has this cartridge in it - which seems kind of weird, as I'm quite sure it's not meant to be used with anything else - which has on it - well, first let me explain its power switch. It has three states. The zeroth is "OFF", which is self-explanatory. The first - or rather the second - is "LCD", in which you can play games on its LCD screen. I believe there's supposed to be 99 such games, but I can't figure out how to operate it.
Which, before I mention what the second setting is, brings me to what makes this all relevant in the first place: Kevin got me one for my birthday.
Now, the second - or rather the first - setting is "TV", and this is where it becomes really neat. It has all these old NES games on it, although I am really forced to wonder whether or not this is really legal. Kevin said it was from Hong Kong, which would explain that, although the label said "Made in China". My dad later noted that Hong Kong is now part of China, although that doesn't seem to have affected it too much...
There are 84 games. They range from old classics which *really* get me questioning the legality of this whole thing (eg Gradius... do you really think Konami approved of this?), to not-as-well-known games (eg Pac-Land), to *very* well known games where even the makers started questioning the legality of the whole thing and thus changed the name, graphics, and/or sound (eg Boom Man, which should be obvious, and Pandamar, which is Super Mario Bros. - but with the music changed to something *really really* annoying...) to games with weird names that you've never heard of but which are certainly quite addictive (well, you get those *everywhere* - though some of these do have some *really* weird names, like "Door Door" and "Elevator Action"), and games which you've never heard of and for good reason (like "Bird Week" - you're a bird and you fly around collecting insects to feed to your children. Maybe it gets better in later levels, but somehow, I doubt it.)
One other problem with it is the control - zerothly, the D-pad is too small, and diagonals are hard to do. There's a joystick on one of the controllers, but that one is controller 2, and, the way it is wired, there is no way to use that one as controller 1. I don't know why they did it that way, but they did. They also went and reversed the positions of A and B, which means that any game that uses B for left and A for right will suddenly become a lot harder. :)
Still, on the whole, this thing is really, really neat. :)
Nomicron Update:
Catesby and Toreun have both exploited a loophole in the rules to give themselves large numbers of points. The response? *3* people - Toreun, Fox, and I - have *all* put fixes for it up for RFC. I put a VRP[0] of 7 on mine, we'll see if there's a VRP on any of theirs... meanwhile Fox has made an RFJ has gone up saying this was all invalid in the first place.
The Grid is also growing increasingly complex. To illustrate:
A Picture of the Grid
(As drawn by the Officer of the Grid, JediSquid.)
(I originally had the image inline, but it really doesn't work on a black background...)
Addendum: I think I'll post the entire Song of Nomicron (as it stands so far) here, for no good reason, but I'll LJ-cut it, also for no good reason.
share pigdog capital flashback final Blustering meaningless censure murky
through that enough blue hurrah
scornful vote horse procedure
Anguished Queen mystical appeal scoffer power criminal
line another security refactor
Browns gargantuan declare mentor joining whitewash cleaning
transcendental each and filibuster
to sin Snoggled boojum insane
Pondering dirt corduroy bilge
And one last thing before I go eat lunch:
(12:59:29) fergie142857: Birthday Cake wasn't the worst song O
(12:59:33) fergie142857: I've ever heard.
(12:59:51) Sniffnoy: do I want to know what was?
(12:59:53) fergie142857: "Hyaku gojuu ichi"
(12:59:58) Sniffnoy: oh c'mon
(13:00:02) fergie142857: Lemme find it...
(13:00:07) Sniffnoy: I've heard that
(13:00:12) fergie142857: oh.
(13:00:22) Sniffnoy: how does that even approach being nearly as bad?
(13:00:31) Sniffnoy: you mean the song from Pokemon, right?
(13:00:46) fergie142857: I don't think so...
(13:01:03) Sniffnoy: OK, do you mean Hyakugojyuuichi 2003, then? by Lemon Demon?
(13:01:14) fergie142857: Not sure...
(13:01:32) fergie142857: It's the one w/ the Harry Potter/JayJay music video.
(13:01:46) fergie142857: I'm pretty sure my ears bled.
(13:01:49) Sniffnoy: oh, that
(13:01:58) Sniffnoy: OK, the one from Pokemon, then
(13:02:16) Sniffnoy: I honestly don't see how that is anywhere near as bad as Birthday Cake
(13:03:07) fergie142857: But then again, I think "Thick as a Brick" is a modern masterpiece...
(13:03:14) Sniffnoy: never heard it
(13:03:33) fergie142857: Well, not modern, it's 30 years old, but still...
(13:03:39) Sniffnoy: ah
(13:03:45) Sniffnoy: well, I haven't heard a lot of things :P
(13:06:31) fergie142857: People call it "the neverending song".
(13:06:56) Sniffnoy: it is how long?
(13:07:08) fergie142857: 43:49
(13:07:17) ***Sniffnoy shrugs
(13:07:19) Sniffnoy: could be worse
(13:07:47) fergie142857: The time signature changes at least once/30 seconds.
(13:08:30) Sniffnoy: LOL
(13:08:51) fergie142857: At one part it's once every 5 seconds.
(13:09:10) Sniffnoy: !!
(13:09:15) fergie142857: Which most people would call "no rythym"
(13:10:12) fergie142857: And the lyrics make about as much sense as I do,
(13:10:26) Sniffnoy: ooh
(13:10:31) fergie142857: Talk to Tom about it.
(13:10:48) fergie142857: I played it ad nauseum/infinitum at PROMYS.
(13:12:24) fergie142857: With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention,
while queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.
Saying---how's your grannie and good old Ernie:
he coughed up a tenner on a premium bond win.
(13:12:40) fergie142857: Reference to medieval soldiers.
(13:13:00) Sniffnoy: ...sure.
(13:13:20) fergie142857: It does that for ~30 verses.
(13:13:32) Sniffnoy: refer to medieval soldiers?
(13:14:11) fergie142857: Nonono... the lyrics are all like that... strange mixing of metaphors... odd allusions..
(13:15:13) Sniffnoy: oh
(13:15:56) fergie142857: If you want, I can post the whole thing here...
(13:16:10) ***Sniffnoy winces
(13:16:20) Sniffnoy: just give me a link, why not?
(13:16:31) fergie142857: hang on
(13:16:48) fergie142857: http://www.cupofwonder.com/
(13:17:01) fergie142857: Look for the album "Thick as a Brick"
(13:17:07) fergie142857: The lyrics will be there
(13:26:02) fergie142857: "Birthday Cake" isn't bad at all...
(13:26:11) fergie142857: it's got a nice beat...
(13:27:22) Sniffnoy: (back)
(13:27:25) Sniffnoy: er, I suppose so...
(13:27:33) Sniffnoy: but what about the loud, awful, screeching?
(13:27:42) fergie142857: What screeching?
(13:27:48) Sniffnoy: um, the chorus?
(13:27:54) fergie142857: Sound
(13:27:57) fergie142857: 's great
(13:28:10) Sniffnoy: er...
(13:28:13) Sniffnoy: ...right...
(13:28:18) Sniffnoy: ...it didn't hurt your ears?
(13:28:30) fergie142857: It's been set on loop.
(13:28:37) Sniffnoy: !!
(13:28:39) fergie142857: Been playing for 35 minutes
(13:28:47) fergie142857: I'm fine with it.
(13:29:02) fergie142857: I'm almost liking it.
(13:29:13) Sniffnoy: ...I suppose I should have expected this from you
(13:29:19) fergie142857: :-D
...right.
-Sniffnoy, really wondering
[0]Vote Reward Pool. I lose that many points, and, if the proposal passes, a randomly chosen player who voted for it gets that many points.
[3]I originally said "the second" but then remembered I'm supposed to be zero-indexing. :)
Which, before I mention what the second setting is, brings me to what makes this all relevant in the first place: Kevin got me one for my birthday.
Now, the second - or rather the first - setting is "TV", and this is where it becomes really neat. It has all these old NES games on it, although I am really forced to wonder whether or not this is really legal. Kevin said it was from Hong Kong, which would explain that, although the label said "Made in China". My dad later noted that Hong Kong is now part of China, although that doesn't seem to have affected it too much...
There are 84 games. They range from old classics which *really* get me questioning the legality of this whole thing (eg Gradius... do you really think Konami approved of this?), to not-as-well-known games (eg Pac-Land), to *very* well known games where even the makers started questioning the legality of the whole thing and thus changed the name, graphics, and/or sound (eg Boom Man, which should be obvious, and Pandamar, which is Super Mario Bros. - but with the music changed to something *really really* annoying...) to games with weird names that you've never heard of but which are certainly quite addictive (well, you get those *everywhere* - though some of these do have some *really* weird names, like "Door Door" and "Elevator Action"), and games which you've never heard of and for good reason (like "Bird Week" - you're a bird and you fly around collecting insects to feed to your children. Maybe it gets better in later levels, but somehow, I doubt it.)
One other problem with it is the control - zerothly, the D-pad is too small, and diagonals are hard to do. There's a joystick on one of the controllers, but that one is controller 2, and, the way it is wired, there is no way to use that one as controller 1. I don't know why they did it that way, but they did. They also went and reversed the positions of A and B, which means that any game that uses B for left and A for right will suddenly become a lot harder. :)
Still, on the whole, this thing is really, really neat. :)
Nomicron Update:
Catesby and Toreun have both exploited a loophole in the rules to give themselves large numbers of points. The response? *3* people - Toreun, Fox, and I - have *all* put fixes for it up for RFC. I put a VRP[0] of 7 on mine, we'll see if there's a VRP on any of theirs... meanwhile Fox has made an RFJ has gone up saying this was all invalid in the first place.
The Grid is also growing increasingly complex. To illustrate:
A Picture of the Grid
(As drawn by the Officer of the Grid, JediSquid.)
(I originally had the image inline, but it really doesn't work on a black background...)
Addendum: I think I'll post the entire Song of Nomicron (as it stands so far) here, for no good reason, but I'll LJ-cut it, also for no good reason.
share pigdog capital flashback final Blustering meaningless censure murky
through that enough blue hurrah
scornful vote horse procedure
Anguished Queen mystical appeal scoffer power criminal
line another security refactor
Browns gargantuan declare mentor joining whitewash cleaning
transcendental each and filibuster
to sin Snoggled boojum insane
Pondering dirt corduroy bilge
And one last thing before I go eat lunch:
(12:59:29) fergie142857: Birthday Cake wasn't the worst song O
(12:59:33) fergie142857: I've ever heard.
(12:59:51) Sniffnoy: do I want to know what was?
(12:59:53) fergie142857: "Hyaku gojuu ichi"
(12:59:58) Sniffnoy: oh c'mon
(13:00:02) fergie142857: Lemme find it...
(13:00:07) Sniffnoy: I've heard that
(13:00:12) fergie142857: oh.
(13:00:22) Sniffnoy: how does that even approach being nearly as bad?
(13:00:31) Sniffnoy: you mean the song from Pokemon, right?
(13:00:46) fergie142857: I don't think so...
(13:01:03) Sniffnoy: OK, do you mean Hyakugojyuuichi 2003, then? by Lemon Demon?
(13:01:14) fergie142857: Not sure...
(13:01:32) fergie142857: It's the one w/ the Harry Potter/JayJay music video.
(13:01:46) fergie142857: I'm pretty sure my ears bled.
(13:01:49) Sniffnoy: oh, that
(13:01:58) Sniffnoy: OK, the one from Pokemon, then
(13:02:16) Sniffnoy: I honestly don't see how that is anywhere near as bad as Birthday Cake
(13:03:07) fergie142857: But then again, I think "Thick as a Brick" is a modern masterpiece...
(13:03:14) Sniffnoy: never heard it
(13:03:33) fergie142857: Well, not modern, it's 30 years old, but still...
(13:03:39) Sniffnoy: ah
(13:03:45) Sniffnoy: well, I haven't heard a lot of things :P
(13:06:31) fergie142857: People call it "the neverending song".
(13:06:56) Sniffnoy: it is how long?
(13:07:08) fergie142857: 43:49
(13:07:17) ***Sniffnoy shrugs
(13:07:19) Sniffnoy: could be worse
(13:07:47) fergie142857: The time signature changes at least once/30 seconds.
(13:08:30) Sniffnoy: LOL
(13:08:51) fergie142857: At one part it's once every 5 seconds.
(13:09:10) Sniffnoy: !!
(13:09:15) fergie142857: Which most people would call "no rythym"
(13:10:12) fergie142857: And the lyrics make about as much sense as I do,
(13:10:26) Sniffnoy: ooh
(13:10:31) fergie142857: Talk to Tom about it.
(13:10:48) fergie142857: I played it ad nauseum/infinitum at PROMYS.
(13:12:24) fergie142857: With their jock-straps pinching, they slouch to attention,
while queueing for sarnies at the office canteen.
Saying---how's your grannie and good old Ernie:
he coughed up a tenner on a premium bond win.
(13:12:40) fergie142857: Reference to medieval soldiers.
(13:13:00) Sniffnoy: ...sure.
(13:13:20) fergie142857: It does that for ~30 verses.
(13:13:32) Sniffnoy: refer to medieval soldiers?
(13:14:11) fergie142857: Nonono... the lyrics are all like that... strange mixing of metaphors... odd allusions..
(13:15:13) Sniffnoy: oh
(13:15:56) fergie142857: If you want, I can post the whole thing here...
(13:16:10) ***Sniffnoy winces
(13:16:20) Sniffnoy: just give me a link, why not?
(13:16:31) fergie142857: hang on
(13:16:48) fergie142857: http://www.cupofwonder.com/
(13:17:01) fergie142857: Look for the album "Thick as a Brick"
(13:17:07) fergie142857: The lyrics will be there
(13:26:02) fergie142857: "Birthday Cake" isn't bad at all...
(13:26:11) fergie142857: it's got a nice beat...
(13:27:22) Sniffnoy: (back)
(13:27:25) Sniffnoy: er, I suppose so...
(13:27:33) Sniffnoy: but what about the loud, awful, screeching?
(13:27:42) fergie142857: What screeching?
(13:27:48) Sniffnoy: um, the chorus?
(13:27:54) fergie142857: Sound
(13:27:57) fergie142857: 's great
(13:28:10) Sniffnoy: er...
(13:28:13) Sniffnoy: ...right...
(13:28:18) Sniffnoy: ...it didn't hurt your ears?
(13:28:30) fergie142857: It's been set on loop.
(13:28:37) Sniffnoy: !!
(13:28:39) fergie142857: Been playing for 35 minutes
(13:28:47) fergie142857: I'm fine with it.
(13:29:02) fergie142857: I'm almost liking it.
(13:29:13) Sniffnoy: ...I suppose I should have expected this from you
(13:29:19) fergie142857: :-D
...right.
-Sniffnoy, really wondering
[0]Vote Reward Pool. I lose that many points, and, if the proposal passes, a randomly chosen player who voted for it gets that many points.
[3]I originally said "the second" but then remembered I'm supposed to be zero-indexing. :)
Not Hong Kong!
Date: 2003-11-16 12:46 pm (UTC)Anyway, that is besides the point. Although I doubt the legality for some reason, this company does have these things being sold all over now... they make a different version (which yes... has the same exact games) over at thinkgeek now. They must have found some loophole..... or they managed to convince really smart people that there was nothing wrong with it.
Either way, I suggest you try to use the joystick on a 2P game. It is relatively unusable, and the D-Pad is much better after trying that. I returned the Power Joy II for one of these (Voyager) originally because the D-Pad on the II barely worked (it was not individual buttons, and you had to smash it really hard to respond) and... yes... the joystick FELL OFF on that aside from the fact that it was inaccurate to the point of lefts being registered as rights!
You can imagine my surprise when that happened. I opted to go for something a little... less... fragile... IE. Voyager.
Bird Week
Date: 2003-11-16 12:50 pm (UTC)The one thing that is evident while playing these games has got to be the spelling errors... For example... Boat Race! Upper right hand corner, it will tell you your "Scroe!"
no subject
Date: 2003-11-16 03:41 pm (UTC)And yeah, the song is god-awful.