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What if the Apple ][ had run on Field-Sequential?
One thing I remain fascinated by is the field-sequential color system. Essentially, unlike composite video, which sacrifices color depth in space, field sequential sacrifices color depth in time. But the specifics matter, and we have the specifics: the United States adopted such a system, but didn’t stick with it. So this article describes a nonexistent, alternate-world computer– what would an early mass-market 8-bit computer have looked like in a world where the field-sequential color system was in place?
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Sega Consoles Never Die: The Soggy-1000 and MD3
It should come as no surprise that I love the retro video game fandom. There is a huge outut of effort and creativity to keep game consoles alive and improve them decades after they were abandoned by their manufacturers; and this is an international effort. So today I’ve ordered a few consoles from enthusiasts in China via Aliexpress. China is a major center of this due to their thriving electronics industry, so I’m excited to dig in. And of course, how could it be anything but Sega?
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You Can't Trust the Internet Anymore
I like things that are strange and a bit obscure. It’s a habit of mine, and a lot of this blog is to document things I haven’t heard of before, because I wanted to learn about them. I mean, jeez, I’m certainly not writing blog posts about strip mahjong because the people demand it. But I can’t stop seeing misinformation everywhere, and I have to say something. This post is just a rant.
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Story Follows Function: Mahjong Daireikai
We like to say that video games are art, and there’s truth in that. But in the capitalist world, video games are also a business. Not everything is the product of an auteur with unlimited funds; sometimes, the funds justify everything. That’s especially true in genres like strip mahjong. At the end of the day, everything is subject to the budget. Sometimes it’s just more obvious. PLUS: The AI apocalypse continues! Ghosts! The Legend of Makai!
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The Last Preset Machine: Yamaha's MR10
Earlier on the blog, I took a look at an early preset drum machine, the Panasonic RD-9844. How early was it? Not a single IC in sights, a pure discrete logic machine packed tightly into a case. Let’s take a look at the opposite end of things. The 1982 Yamaha MR10 drum machine. PLUS: Disco fever!
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Playing Arcade Mahjong at Home? Or is it just a Mirage?
A lot of the things I’ve looked at on this blog have never left Japan, often for good reason. One genre that stands out in this is mahjong, a tile-based gambling game popular in Japan, associated with nudity in their arcades, and associated with old ladies everywhere else. How can we add this to our supergun? Surely that’s a question someone other than me is curious about. Reader’s note: This post will be strictly “safe for work”. The game might be too. Depends on your workplace.
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Narcissus' Direct-to-VHS Return: MGA's Space Invaders Color FX
Remember the Game & Watch Panorama Series? The use of mirrors for a clever approach to a portable color LCD console. Of course, in 1999, you didn’t need that; this was the era of the Game Boy Color, which had a color LCD screen that you didn’t need a reflective mirror light trick to get sort-of visible color. So the panorama trick was long gone, right?
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