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[D.Lo]

Yeah early PS1s in particular had the worst disc drives ever, my unmodded 96/97 model needed to be turned upside down to read games after a year or so, infuriating but a sign of things to come (DRE, RROD etc).

I run a PSOne these days, kawaii as fuck.

 

[Lettuce]

Nice work!

That's a quite extensive internal mod unfortunately. I wonder if it could be done more easily without using the port, and replacing the drive, like some of these other console's drive replacement solutions are doing.

Apparently it can't be done, Sony designed the system so direct access to the cd drives bus wasn't possible hence the need for that little switch PCB

What? Where in my comment did I say anything about piracy? Maybe I'm missing something, but this plays ISOs or similar, right? How is that different from taking the same ISO and putting it on a backup? I've done this with a number of my games so that I can keep them in their boxes and protect them from scratching.

Longevity of the drive/console. Disc drives have moving parts and die. They literally wear out with each use. So this means original hardware will be able to be used without killing parts.

Discs can be damaged, but do not wear out (in theory - there is disc rot happening), or at least wear out far slower than drives.

Yeah I mean the system I install the psio on was my launch UK system, I've adjusted the pot for calibrating the laser on it so many times now that it can't be calibrated anymore and the games don't load reliably and when they do they skip a lot. So basically this psio device has saved this system from the scrap heap

 

[soxinthebox]

Yeah early PS1s in particular had the worst disc drives ever, my unmodded 96/97 model needed to be turned upside down to read games after a year or so, infuriating but a sign of things to come (DRE, RROD etc).

I run a PSOne these days, kawaii as fuck.

Is there any benefit in using a PS1/one over a PS2?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Is there any benefit in using a PS1/one over a PS2?

100% compatibility with the PS1 library

 

[entremet]

I'm dong my yearly October Castlevania run.

SOTN ages like fine wine.

 

[RoryDropkick]

100% compatibility with the PS1 library

Listen to this guy.

I have it so I can play Gradius Gaiden properly.

 

[drtomoe123]

I can't even tell you the last time I had a PSX hooked up. The PS3's BC works good enough for me (then again I mainly play RPGs). I've got my modded PS2 hooked up in the bedroom for DDR right now, but it doesn't even play anything other than DVDs atm. I need to open that sucker up and readjust the laser again.

 

[Zing]

I am reading some old Next Generation magazines. It was a great time to be a gamer. The PlayStation and Saturn were just hitting, and we had the SNES, Genesis, 3DO, and Jaguar games as well. So much variety.

In issue 7, I stumbled across this gem of a letter written to the magazine:

A precursor to the comment section on every video game news site? Damn, that was harsh!

 

[drtomoe123]

I am reading some old Next Generation magazines. It was a great time to be a gamer. The PlayStation and Saturn were just hitting, and we had the SNES, Genesis, 3DO, and Jaguar games as well. So much variety.

In issue 7, I stumbled across this gem of a letter written to the magazine:

A precursor to the comment section on every video game news site? Damn, that was harsh!

OH man, what a taste of things to come.

I got really nostalgic this summer and went through a bunch of the old newsgroups. Looking at the titles, you'd think you were browsing GAF in 2015, lol.

 

[NoFaceNico]

That was in a printed game magazine? Wow. Maybe I should email the guy and see what he's up to these days.

 

[D.Lo]

Trolling and fanboy wars were basically invented by magazines. With a little help from Sega's marketing (and later Sony's marketing which picked up right where Sega left off).

Even back in Atari/intellivision and all the old 8-bit computer formats, single format magazines constantly crapped on other formats, and multi format magazines let their preferences dominate editorial decisions.

 

[NormalFish]

I miss reading gaming rags. They were entertaining, even if there was tons of bull.

 

[Zing]

That was in a printed game magazine? Wow. Maybe I should email the guy and see what he's up to these days.

Yes I was surprised. It is the July 1995 issue of Next Generation. I bet the person who wrote it got a few email replies.

 

[NoFaceNico]

Yes I was surprised. It is the July 1995 issue of Next Generation. I bet the person who wrote it got a few email replies.

That's true. It's kinda funny how the mid 90s to early 2000s game magazines included the fan's email address. I wonder if they still get flooded with spam mail on that account to this day.

 

[woodypop]

^that's awesome man! ive got the G&G one on saturn, that volume there and the 1943 disc are on my list for sure. all 3 of those games are fun but i'd love to get a 3-player mercs game going!

I've always thought it kind of weird that a SNES game made it onto non-Nintendo compilations. Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts at least had arcade counterparts, but Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts originated on the SNES. Has that happened with any other originally SNES games?

 

[drtomoe123]

I've always thought it kind of weird that a SNES game made it onto non-Nintendo compilations. Ghosts 'n Goblins and Ghouls 'n Ghosts at least had arcade counterparts, but Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts originated on the SNES. Has that happened with any other originally SNES games?

Would Rockman X3 count?

 

[sixteen-bit]

Would Rockman X3 count?

Final Fantasy Chronicles and Anthology as well

Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre too

 

[woodypop]

Would Rockman X3 count?

Final Fantasy Chronicles and Anthology as well

Ogre Battle and Tactics Ogre too

Hmm, yes. Totally spaced on those.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Had a friend give me a PS1, but the laser is kind of going bad. Went and grabbed another one from a local place and it refuses to output through RGB (everything else works fine, including standard composite out). Fucking weird. Gonna try taking the laser/drive out of the one and put it into the other. See if I can get one functioning system out of the two.

 

[Timu]

Went and grabbed another one from a local place and it refuses to output through RGB (everything else works fine, including standard composite out). Fucking weird.

Wait, what, how is this possible???

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Wait, what, how is this possible???

I don't have a fucking clue. I know absolutely zero about the shit. All I know is using the exact same cables and everything, the one with the broken laser works no problem with RGB to my XRGB mini. The "new" one doesn't. It works with normal composite, though. Frustrating as fuck, that's all I know.

 

[Khaz]

Playstation AV connectors are not the best connector ever, I've had to straighten the pins at the cable end to get a good connection several times.

 

[AmyS]

The first few reports in Electronic Gaming Monthly on Sony PS-X from early-mid 1994.

My first impression of what Sony PlayStation would be (without Nintendo) were shaped by these very articles --And Next Generation's premier issue was still months away at that point.

 

[Teknoman]

Heh how much Ram? "More than 3DO".

 

[Dangerblade]

Thanks for posting those - I love reading stuff like this from old mags

 

[Lettuce]

So just been testing the Colony Wars games out on my PSIO device and they still hold up incredibily well

 

[AmyS]

Thanks for posting those - I love reading stuff like this from old mags

No problem.

Heh how much Ram? "More than 3DO".

Ha, yeah. It turned out not to be the case actually. Both 3DO and PS1 had 2 MB system memory plus 1 MB VRAM. (PS1 had another 0.5 MB for audio).

That said, PS1 was easily 3x faster/more powerful than 3DO.

 

[RadarScope1]

I remember those articles well! I had saved all summer in 94 to buy a 3DO. Right after I got it, these articles about the PSX began hitting EGM and the games for 3DO suddenly dried up. Once Namco, Capcom and Konami began showing their games for the system it was pretty easy to see if was going to take off. There was so much hype going into the first E3 that all Sony had to do was drop the famous "299 dollars" announcement and drop the mic.

 

[NoFaceNico]

So just been testing the Colony Wars games out on my PSIO device and they still hold up incredibily well

If you like Colony Wars, there's two spiritual sequels in the series by the same developers: Blast Radius and Star Trek Invasion.

 

[Lettuce]

If you like Colony Wars, there's two spiritual sequels in the series by the same developers: Blast Radius and Star Trek Invasion.

Yeah ive played Invasion...Michael Dorn's voice acting was a nice addition, ill have to look at blast radius

 

[Khaz]

The thread about Umihara Kawase and my subsequent reading of the relevant hg101 article made me buy the PS1 game. I have no idea what I'm going into. I'll tell you in a month.

The PS1 game (Shun) rocks. It's coming to Steam too via Agatsuma, apparently. I hope you enjoy!

Ugly as fuck game tho, but I guess that's the series' MO

And the disc just came in!

My first impression is, it will be tough. The girl is very slow and doesn't jump very high or very far, the game obviously doesn't want you to go pedestrian. The grappling hook mechanism is interesting, though I have yet to get the hang of it Some crazy manoeuvres are described in the manual and I have no idea how to do them. It feels like I'm bungee roping my way through like in Worms 2 though. Some weird stuff happen with the controls, like pressing down to go up, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Visually it's not the best game I've ever seen. The sprite work is nothing of note, the fishes are digitised and ugly as fuck, and the 3D environment is globally insipid. The levels are well designed though, so who cares what it looks like.

 

[sixteen-bit]

shitty graphics is the series' MO

Shun gotta be the worst looking one tho

 

[AmyS]

Have some more PS-X EGM articles for you all.

 

[televator]

"Huge amounts of data." lol Well I guess it was huge compared to N64. Hahaha!

 

[Teknoman]

Arc the Rad huh?

 

[Zing]

"Huge amounts of data." lol Well I guess it was huge compared to N64. Hahaha!

So true. A Next Generation magazine issue I just read claimed that Nintendo initially limited cart size to 8 MB.

 

[drtomoe123]

Man, these are great. Thanks for posting.

lol, did they have a quota they had to meet for mentioning Cyber Sled and Ridge Racer?

 

[PumpkinSpice]

PS-X

We should all just write it like that from now on.

 

[D.Lo]

Wow the playstation can produce mind boggling spooky skeletons!

PS-X

We should all just write it like that from now on.

Everyone wrote PSX until Sony years later released a commercial product called PSX, confusing everything. Much like Xbox 1.

 

[Dangerblade]

All these scans have reminded me of a blog I ran a few years back, looking at the first few issues of the Official UK PlayStation Magazine - http://officialukplaystationmagazine.blogspot.co.uk/

Some cool bits of trivia from these magazines, figure some of you guys might find it interesting

 

[IrishNinja]

loving these EGM scans so hard

Everyone wrote PSX until Sony years later released a commercial product called PSX, confusing everything. Much like Xbox 1.

yeah but people forgot that, so it's PSX4LYFE
also OG xbox or just xbox vs xbone in my book

 

[RadarScope1]

What's the month/year on those most recently posted scans?

 

[AmyS]

What's the month/year on those most recently posted scans?

July and August 1994.

 

[MikeMyers]

What does PS1GAF think of the Gex games? Been thinking of getting them of PSN.

 

[Timu]

What does PS1GAF think of the Gex games? Been thinking of getting them of PSN.

I played the 1st one and don't remember much from it. Though I will get to the sequels hopefully next year.

 

[Dangerblade]

What does PS1GAF think of the Gex games? Been thinking of getting them of PSN.

Never played the original but remember enjoying the 3D ones. No idea how they hold up these days though...

 

[Laws00]

I got my Pocketstation yesterday and omg I forgot how much technology has advanced so fast.

This thing is small well at least the screen. I know its just a ps1 memory card with an LCD screen.

I'm curious to know how much this thing costed back in the day when it came out

Now I need to see what games are on this thing as well as looking into putting my games on this thing

 

[FlammableD]

Any good Brit places to look for PS1 games? There's a few I'm looking to collar, but eBay seems to range 10-20 quid for them.

 

[sixteen-bit]

What does PS1GAF think of the Gex games? Been thinking of getting them of PSN.

I own the first on 3DO but the framerate is really bad. I really hope they cleaned it up on PS1 and Saturn.

 

[Timu]

I own the first on 3DO but the framerate is really bad. I really hope they cleaned it up on PS1 and Saturn.

I remember it being fine on Saturn.