And now for something completely different....

Cyber bullying and slandering on Social Media

Social media has evolved to a stage where people WILL take notice of things you say or show. That is why before any sense of justice is expressed, the person complaining must have definite proof of the offence.

At least that is what I am accustomed to until yesterday.

I expressed an interest to a Facebook member of his work and passion on the arcade front and out of nowhere a "friend" whom I thought we were on good terms with slandered my name with no reason what-so-ever. Clearly a foolish move as there is no evidence of such personal attack.

I have since disassociated with him as I do not appreciate such acts, especially since there is no discussion of any issues prior to attack.

He has also left inflammatory remarks (censored for younger audience) on youtube as well, but I shrug that off. This however has overstepped the line.

Thankfully Facebook moderators stepped in and fixed his mess and I have removed his comment.

Suffice to say the damage has already been done and I had to explain to close friends and relative the implications of his comment.

As a personal message to Shane: "Think before you type!"

I disallowed comments on this post because it has gone far enough and it is something people should not put up with.

Got a couple nice tidbits about cabinets recently, nice and light..

Comes with a couple concept sketches and stuff, interesting read.

Some paper crafty stuff for you!

I recently received this from a friend, have fun putting it together!

Is that DDP in the loo or are you happy to see me?

A view from the throne ofcause.

Got another CRT to the fray, the highly touted B&O MX4000 and CRT setup.

In the flesh, the MX4000 is simply stunning. The bonus VCR I got with it has the nicest flap mechanism I have encountered. The Beo 4 remote is also quite beautiful and heavy, easily qualify as a Cleudo weapon. The TV also came with a mechanical rotating stand and wall mount, take that Scaramanga!

The picture quality of the MX4000 is below par with that of the PVMs of similar size. Which is expected as the PVM was several thousand dollars compared to it.

Here is a group shot of the CRT corner of the gameroom.

Opposite to the CRT setup is my 31KHz CRT setup, specifically for the PC and Dreamcast. The monitor is a 20" Trinitron. Sharp, vibrant and lag free what all monitors should strive for.

Testing my remaining pair of 20/21" PVM monitors and it is all good!

The vertically oriented monitor has been in storage for 2 years in the back shed so it was a treat to see it fire up on the first try. It uses BNC for the the video input so I had to improvise with my cabling solution and it seems the SEGA Saturn is totally fine with that.

Here is Toaplans' Batsugun running on the vertical monitor. I sold my 14" PVMs after firing up the two monitors. Once you go beyond 14" is hard to go back.

Luckily both monitors are happy to run side by side without affecting each others magnetic field.

A special mention to Metal Black by Taito, it was a very groovy game.

So long PONY II 28, you will be missed.

In the ongoing quest of streamlining my gameroom, I have decided to let go of my PONY II 28 cabinet. 

This was the last picture of all the cabinets restored and together.

Compared to the SEGA New Astro City, the PONY II can rotate its screen without lifting the monitor out of the cabinet and also it is made of metal from the ground up. The control panel angle is higher than the Astro and the screen mounting is flatter. 

It will be missed but the laws of the gameroom demands it.

Battletoads by RARE

It is not often a western developed arcade game gets a lot praise. But this was one of the exception. The game is Battletoads developed by RARE.

I played the game with the "Blood Enabled" but have not seen any gushes of the red (or green!) stuff yet. I do however witness a couple decapitation attacks, that was surprisingly cool. The into the screen attacks was quite satisfying to pull off as well.

This scene reminds me of the Predator series, which is fitting as the attacks unleashed by the toads morph into weapons which is fun to pull off.

This is the first stage boss, the artwork is pretty amazing.

I played as Pimple and he even taunt enemies while idling. Suffice to say the artwork is vibrant even though the game is a dark one.

Wading through the treasure and Stool unpacking.

My arcade stools finally was released by New Zealand Customs and was promptly delivered to my workplace that same day.

I chose red fabric as the colour of choice to contrast with the rest of the colour scheme in the game room. Overall I am quite surprised about the size of the seat as it was bigger than I thought and the leg teflon was flush against the chrome which looks fantastic. The seat I chose also has also got extra strengthening to withstand heavier individuals and better upholstery. I am glad I bought it new as second hand seats would carry quite a lot of odour.

I came across this Banpresto PCB during the testing and archiving process, it was Ultraman Club. A super deformed Ultraman bomberman clone where you try to avoid familiar groups of kaiju and their projectiles while firing off your own. Its quite amusing seeing how his trademarked beam only stuns the kaiju rather can causing spontaneous explosion. There is a power meter at the bottom of his HP that accumulates and can launch a disk attack that consumes 3 blocks of power but passes through barriers and kills with 1 hit! The first boss is a giant Ultrama reminiscent of Kikikaikais' boss battle.

Second up requires no introduction, though James does a good job here:

I got this board from my recent haul, it is in great shape and sounds awesome!

Another arcade board haul and CRT galore.

For the majority of retrogamers or nostalgics a good quality CRT is essential. For years I only played in RGB instead of the other signals because once I have seen that quality from a console it is hard to play on anything less. So for the gameroom, I have set out no less than 5 CRT for all types of purposes. For general gameplay, I have two 21" PVM monitors.

One is orientated in the usual horizontal position and the other is at 90 degrees. This is to accommodate vertical shooter conversions/boards that allowed full screen and resolution.

The height is set at stool sitting height to avoid leg cramps.

The next setup it situated in front of the main window. This is for the hardcore gamer who insist that the floor is where the action is. Situated at a floor sitting height are 3 monitors. The two 14" mimic the 21" big brothers and there is a 22" computer screen for 31 KHz material such as from the Naomi2 or god forbid next gen consoles.

All the I/O is handled by the matrix switch that can simultaneously display 8 sources to 8 displays. Neato.

Last night I had a visit from the arcade fairy, he brought me a lot of games. To my relief there is no street fighter boards this time, instead I am graced with Gaiapolis, Sunset Riders, another Fire Shark! Plus...an original Ninja Baseball Batmen (<-plural )!

Adios for now pardner.

Some progress in Gameroom refurbishment.

I could not justify a space for the commercial LCD monitor so its mounted in the bathroom for the time being. I like it because it gives me something to look at while on the throne.

The bathroom is also decked out with consoles and games as well.

The father-in-law and I laid down some railings on both side of the wall to accommodate more shelving space. That alleviates a lot of floor space especially since arcade boards and consoles take up a lot of room.

I manage to pick up a working CPS3 third strike for a song and it sounds great.

I went to my parents house to pick up the other two New Astro City I had stashed away.

One of them had a chassis fault, I believe one of the resistors had failed as it looks stripped of its ceramic casing. I discharged the monitor and sent it off to Pintech for repairs.

Here is how the new arcade wall looks like now.

I also got my second impact board running at the same time, which is bliss of cause.

Changed out with puzzle fighter for the evening.

Here is the ROM board for Strider 2. Mint as and will be available soon for anyone interested..