Category: Tech

A Few Unusual Things

March 6, 2022

I had a birthday recently, and got a lot of weird and wonderful stuff. Here’s a few of them…

KLS gave me an electronic card, that plays Happy Birthday and then lets you blow out the candle (yes you blow on the card) to trigger a jumping game! It’s smaller than a credit card and very unique.

This dispenser creates a cat paw pattern using foam soap! It works very well, and the soap from this Japanese item is denser than what we get here in America. I reckon this basic idea will be the first of many of its kind…

This is a set of neon/metallic watercolour paint samples, and I’ve showed what they look like on the right. The glitter ones are extremely cool, but apparently look best on black paper. I wonder if I can use these in the ongoing postcard contest?

This sculpture of a one-eyed raven – possibly one of Odin’s ravens – is made of resin, quite heavy and mounts on the wall. We have a few items like this, and he’ll find a welcome home on our walls. KLS purchased this directly from the artist, and mine is #139 of 300 🙂

The above is a set of stamp sheets depicting American wildlife. They were printed one per year between 1998 and 2009, and Bernard gave me the full set!

The artwork on these is fantastic, and they are printed in such a way that it’s not immediately obvious they contain actual stamps! I’ll never use these; they’re certainly ‘for the collection’ 🙂

And lastly another piece of art: a miniature giraffe sculpture! This is also made of resin, and is hand painted. It’s incredibly tiny: that’s my fingertip on the left and a normal size LEGO minifig on the right. I need to find some sort of mini display case to put him in since he’s so weightless he may just drift off on the wind one day!

As I said this is just a selection of what I received for my birthday. The ‘usual stuff’ (model kits, LEGO, trading cards etc.) will eventually get their own posts right here on this very blog!

My Collection: PlayStation 2

January 1, 2021

The PlayStation 2 (PS2) was Sony’s second game console, and was a dramatic upgrade to the original PlayStation. Released in the USA in late October 2000, I got my first PS2 a few weeks later from Working Designs, since I was then writing content for their website.

It was an extremely successful console – to date the most successful (although it will almost certainly be surpassed by the Switch) – selling over 150 million units in over 12 years of life. It has a massive game library and many extremely successful franchises that continue to this day began on the PS2. Historically, this will always be remembered as one of the most important game consoles in history.

Even though it’s still relatively young, some elements of the console feel archaic today, such as the use of dedicated memory cards for storage, the wired controllers and the lack of any built-in internet support. It did however play DVDs, and for many homes was their first DVD player, which was one reason for its great success.

Over its lifetime I bought well over 150 PS2 games, but I traded many in and my remaining collection (115 games) is shown above. Unsurprisingly this is mostly RPGs (since I was reviewing all of them in those days), and virtually every game you can see was beaten to completion.

The graphics hold up reasonably well these days: certainly much better than the original PlayStation. This was also the era in which cutscenes really took off since loading time and video quality had improved significantly over the previous generation. Playing the games now isn’t too great though since the (first generation) Dual Shock analogue controllers feel slow and stiff, and the memory stick system is clumsy.

The PS2 was also regionless, and this was the era in which I started semi-regular trips to Japan. That said I only bought two PS2 games while I was there, both of which I beat completely despite having not being able to read the text!

As I said there’s a plethora of incredible games on the system, including the mighty Final Fantasy XII, the Ratchet & Clank games, the first Monster Hunter and many others. But for me the Naval Ops series will always be remembered fondly. These are action games in which you develop and fight warships in combat. It starts off realistic enough, but by the end you have star destroyer sized submarines with wave guns and laser cannons. They’re all fantastic!

For an extremely popular system with so many great games there’s relatively few ‘holy grails’ on the system as far as collecting is worth, and the vast majority of games these days can be bought for less than when they first came out. The two shown above are probably the rarest in my collection, each worth over $100, which is modest compared to games on other systems.

As the PlayStation has evolved through the generations (now up to the PlayStation 5) the differences between successive iterations has become less and less. I feel the PS1-to-PS2 jump was the biggest, and for that reason remember this console more fondly than any other PlayStation. That said I’m not overly nostalgic about it (or it’s games) like I am handheld or Nintendo systems.

It was fun getting it out and firing up the games for a spin, but I think if the day arrives I decide to sell more of my collection it’s likely my PS2 games will be on the list.

Space Invaders

December 19, 2020

Space Invaders may not have been the very first video game, but it’s probably the most historic. It took the world by storm and led to an industry that by 2018 had surpassed the movies. I’ve written before how I still remember first playing it about 40 years ago, and to this day the game retains a place in my heart.

So when I saw the line of Micro Arcade handheld games it was a no-brainer which one I would buy.

These are tiny little game systems about the size of a credit card. I believe the same basic hardware is used for the entire range of games which is why this one has two buttons and a four way controller (space invaders only uses left, right and one fire button). The design is very nice: it’s a solid little unit with good buttons and a nifty clear front so you can see the PCB. It contains a rechargeable battery and has separate on/off and sound switches.

The screen is impressive for its tiny size (less than 1 square inch) and the pixels are clearer than they look in this photo. You can see the game simulates the cellophane stripes that added colour to the original monochrome arcade game, which is a nice touch.

It is of course a rewrite of space invaders and not the original code. It controls and plays the same but is fiendishly difficult with very fast enemy shots. Unfortunately the iconic sound and music of the original is not reproduced (this is a major omission) but what is here is good enough. It also doesn’t save high scores when turned off.

All things considered, for the low price ($15) this is much better than I thought it would be and while it’s probably ‘one for the collection’ I’m intrigued enough by the tech to consider buying one of the more complex games they have released.

It’s also notable how advanced this device is especially for such a low price. If you could take this back to 1979 and give it to little me I would have thought it was magic. Imagine the technology the children of today will be using when they’re my age!

Robot Claw