Tag: video-games

PowerMac G4 Tower

This is my PowerMac G4 Tower. It has long since been relegated to my boneyard of old, treasured Macs along with a G3 tower, Quadra 605, and a nice aluminum Pro Tower which was a gift from a friend. I wish I’d kept the PowerComputing 150 clone I used for nine years, but I can’t keep them all. (I try, though.) That one had been Frankensteined with every upgrade possible to keep it relevant. I was so upset when Steve Jobs returned and killed clone licensing, but he was correct to do so.

Because the Quadra 605 requires a simple battery to start up, and the G3 has a bad power supply, this is my only OS9 computer that works. Eventually I want to replace the hard drive with a solid state one, as this old example has just begun to fail.

I have no real need for anything OS9 (Who does?) but there are a lot of old, treasured games that I’d like to have available as well as the nostalgia of firing up QuarkXPress 3.0/4.0, something I spent a lot of time working with back in the day. It is a familiar, comfortable environment that brings back good memories. Plus, although this isn’t as pretty as my aluminum Pro Tower, it is a nice example of computer design done well and not just a box on the floor.

The beige G3 tower had the ability to fold out flat for upgrades, which at the time was pretty fancy. This one did better with its more simple open-door access. It was nice to have a computer that was so much better thought out than what everybody else was using. And that went for the operating system as well. Still does.

That PowerComputing clone I had for so long actually cut my hands more than once when upgrading it because aside from the operating system that it ran, it was just another beige box from the beige world of beige computers, with no thought at all to anything other than slapping parts together in the cheapest way possible.

Efficiency and design must be in balance in order to do the best work, and Apple has always had that going for it while all other computer makers were just slapping parts together in the cheapest way possible, and calling it a day.

I have watched the evolution of Apples’ design over the years, and in this world where there are so many ugly things, it is nice that this company has it in them to make something positive and appealing out of what everyone else overlooks. Which leaves us with tools that are aesthetically pleasing instead of more plastic-generic mediocrity.

Odyssey 2

On Saturday, I aquired something I’ve wanted for many years: an Odyssey 2 video game system, circa 1982 or so. My cousin and I used to play this, along with his Colecovision (which had an Atari 2600 add-on) all day long, day after day, in-between riding bikes, playing guns, (pow pow!), jumping on the trampoline, and watching R movies like Predator, Robocop, and Aliens. This program upgraded in 1986 when the original Nintendo came along. Good times.

These Odyssey 2 game consoles are all over eBay, but I could never justify the purchase and was uneasy with purchasing this kind of thing from there, as to whether it would work or not, etc.

After several dud garage sales this Saturday, Dad and I hit another bad one… except I saw this, in a good-condition box, too! The price was a bit lower than eBay, and the people selling it were, to my judgement, very reputable and honest. The machine itself is very clean, but I need to decide how I’m going to hook it up to my modern television, and I have ordered a newer power adapter instead of the aftermarket, multiple-voltage one that came with it. Just to be safe.

I’m going to go through a VCR, which has what is needed built-in into its antennae input. I’m not sure of the specific terms, but after several YouTube videos, this is the cost-effective way to go instead of specific adapters I’d have to buy. Once I get this sorted out, I can go ahead and shop around for the classic titles we played back in the day. This unit came with seven, but only two were familiar to me, and none of them were our really big favorites.

In any case, if I hadn’t picked this up, I’d be kicking myself forever because it is such a nostalgic blast from the past, and the games we played are going to be fun to go through again, after all these years. It isn’t enough of a priority to spend big money on, but it is something I can’t pass up if the opportunity presents itself like this.

Last year, I compiled lists of the games we played on all three systems (Odyssey 2, Colecovision, and Atari 2600) so that if I ever ran across them (They are usually dirt-cheap when found in person), I’d be ready to select the right games.

I’m pretty happy about this find. We almost didn’t go to that sale!