Then there's the laser rot.
July 11, 2016 6:39 AM Subscribe
That's so rad.
posted by Annika Cicada at 8:36 AM on July 11, 2016
posted by Annika Cicada at 8:36 AM on July 11, 2016
The system itself was $359, though all things considered, it's likely still cheaper than replacing discs and players that will eventually fail anyway. Of course, buying one now would probably be difficult: Ownby and Ondras had but a few hundred made, and they were snatched up quickly. It's possible more will be produced at some point (or that they have a few extras lying around), but for now Ownby tells me he has other projects in the pipeline. Besides, he adds, the hand assembly required for Dexter was pretty painful.
Interesting that they didn't see the irony in replacing a dying/dead technology with one that is irreplaceable once it, too, fails.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 8:51 AM on July 11, 2016
Interesting that they didn't see the irony in replacing a dying/dead technology with one that is irreplaceable once it, too, fails.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 8:51 AM on July 11, 2016
There's a retro arcade in Bend, OR that charges by the hour and has one of these game. It's still surprisingly hard to get right. Some day I'm going to print out the whole sequence and go in and finish the damn thing.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:05 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by gottabefunky at 9:05 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Interesting that they didn't see the irony in replacing a dying/dead technology with one that is irreplaceable once it, too, fails.
Is there a single computer technology of which this will not become true at some point in the not-too-distant future?
posted by praemunire at 9:32 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Is there a single computer technology of which this will not become true at some point in the not-too-distant future?
posted by praemunire at 9:32 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]
Sure, but I guess it was the near-immediate obsolescence, right out of the gate, that struck me as funny.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 9:52 AM on July 11, 2016
posted by a lungful of dragon at 9:52 AM on July 11, 2016
a very specific market for sure. I love that someone took the time to create a fix for such an uncommon type of game.
I recently sought out and aquired a 36" inch CRT TV, just so I could play NES Zapper games again after about 8 years with a flat screen. It was difficult moving in a 200lb TV just to play a handful of mediocre games a couple times a year, at best. But the authenticity provided by the image, format, resolution, and the click, buzz, hum, and static electricity upon powering on has really justified the ordeal. It is an honor to do my part in maintaining and preserving an outdated form of technology, even if I myself rarely use it. But I'm also pretty sure (hoping) the CRT will reliably work for another 20-30 years at least.
Also streaming Jurassic Park in HD via Netflix to the CRT, totally replacing and surpassing the VCR's of the past and the nostalgia involved, is pretty wild and wonderful.
posted by Sprocket at 10:06 AM on July 11, 2016
I recently sought out and aquired a 36" inch CRT TV, just so I could play NES Zapper games again after about 8 years with a flat screen. It was difficult moving in a 200lb TV just to play a handful of mediocre games a couple times a year, at best. But the authenticity provided by the image, format, resolution, and the click, buzz, hum, and static electricity upon powering on has really justified the ordeal. It is an honor to do my part in maintaining and preserving an outdated form of technology, even if I myself rarely use it. But I'm also pretty sure (hoping) the CRT will reliably work for another 20-30 years at least.
Also streaming Jurassic Park in HD via Netflix to the CRT, totally replacing and surpassing the VCR's of the past and the nostalgia involved, is pretty wild and wonderful.
posted by Sprocket at 10:06 AM on July 11, 2016
Interesting that they didn't see the irony in replacing a dying/dead technology with one that is irreplaceable once it, too, fails.
I think the point is that now these laser disc games have a shelf life that is more comparable to other solid-state video games that don't have hard-drives, disc readers, and other moving parts beyond the input devices. I guess CRT failure is the next thing to worry about for arcade cabinets?
posted by straight at 1:34 PM on July 11, 2016
I think the point is that now these laser disc games have a shelf life that is more comparable to other solid-state video games that don't have hard-drives, disc readers, and other moving parts beyond the input devices. I guess CRT failure is the next thing to worry about for arcade cabinets?
posted by straight at 1:34 PM on July 11, 2016
CRT failure is the *current* thing to worry about.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:41 PM on July 11, 2016
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 3:41 PM on July 11, 2016
As to CRTs, well, they make curved (concave) displays now for home use. So I envisage a convex display with rounded corners, four speakers for that real stereo power hum, and an ozone generator, backed by modern electronics to simulate the slight waver and other fluctuations of the real tubes, with smart interfaces to link to the antique (or simulated antique) hardware.
I say this as someone who likes to play his old 8- 16- and 32-bit PC games in emulation on modern 64-bit Android and Windows devices and is no longer up to crouching all night over a hulking desktop machine with fuzzy, curvy monitor to get his fix.
posted by Autumn Leaf at 6:00 PM on July 11, 2016
I say this as someone who likes to play his old 8- 16- and 32-bit PC games in emulation on modern 64-bit Android and Windows devices and is no longer up to crouching all night over a hulking desktop machine with fuzzy, curvy monitor to get his fix.
posted by Autumn Leaf at 6:00 PM on July 11, 2016
If you like this, you'll love the dude that finally cracked the Sega Saturn. Similar problems: it has an optical drive that can fail, and you can't burn copies of the game onto a CD, as the discs themselves have copy protection baked in. Plus the Saturn was just a weird, weird machine with far too many chips.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:08 PM on July 11, 2016
posted by alex_skazat at 10:08 PM on July 11, 2016
I wonder what will happen in 40 years when all the Raspberry Pis we used in the 2010s to replace failing hardware start failing.
posted by savetheclocktower at 8:12 AM on July 12, 2016
posted by savetheclocktower at 8:12 AM on July 12, 2016
modern electronics to simulate the slight waver and other fluctuations of the real tubes
There are already software simulations for many of those effects.
There's no software to configure, though. Instead, there's a program called Dexter Manager to keep the system up to date and download your licensed games. Yeah, I said licensed! Dexter is a completely above-board system; you pay for the rights to any game you use. Indeed, the USB memory stick included in the package is used to transfer software updates and purchased game images to Dexter.
Did they negotiate some kind of licensing deal with the original publishers? I know nothing about these systems, but I imagine at least some of those publishers are out of business by now or their IP is owned by some massive corporation that can't be bothered to do a small licensing deal with some hobbyists due to the cost of paperwork or other issues. IIRC, other more professional emulation efforts have been scuttled by such issues.
If they were on the up and up with regard to IP licensing, I'd have guessed they'd have some process where they'd only release the images to you after you confirmed that you actually owned the physical game disc, rather than just asking for some more money.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 12:05 PM on July 12, 2016
There are already software simulations for many of those effects.
There's no software to configure, though. Instead, there's a program called Dexter Manager to keep the system up to date and download your licensed games. Yeah, I said licensed! Dexter is a completely above-board system; you pay for the rights to any game you use. Indeed, the USB memory stick included in the package is used to transfer software updates and purchased game images to Dexter.
Did they negotiate some kind of licensing deal with the original publishers? I know nothing about these systems, but I imagine at least some of those publishers are out of business by now or their IP is owned by some massive corporation that can't be bothered to do a small licensing deal with some hobbyists due to the cost of paperwork or other issues. IIRC, other more professional emulation efforts have been scuttled by such issues.
If they were on the up and up with regard to IP licensing, I'd have guessed they'd have some process where they'd only release the images to you after you confirmed that you actually owned the physical game disc, rather than just asking for some more money.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 12:05 PM on July 12, 2016
Interesting that they didn't see the irony in replacing a dying/dead technology with one that is irreplaceable once it, too, fails.
It's not ironic if they sufficiently documented what they did so that someone could more easily build a replacement in the future, if there's still any interest. At the bare minimum, it will allow future indirect reverse engineering of the by then long-dead laserdisc players by examining these replacements.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 12:14 PM on July 12, 2016
It's not ironic if they sufficiently documented what they did so that someone could more easily build a replacement in the future, if there's still any interest. At the bare minimum, it will allow future indirect reverse engineering of the by then long-dead laserdisc players by examining these replacements.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 12:14 PM on July 12, 2016
→ I wonder what will happen in 40 years when all the Raspberry Pis we used in the 2010s to replace failing hardware start failing
It'll be sooner than that, at least for models older than the Raspberry Pi 3: they'll fail with Y2038 clock problems.
posted by scruss at 10:56 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
It'll be sooner than that, at least for models older than the Raspberry Pi 3: they'll fail with Y2038 clock problems.
posted by scruss at 10:56 AM on July 13, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by delfin at 7:26 AM on July 11, 2016 [1 favorite]