General Arcade & Retro Chat' Special Championship Edition

Retr0gamer

1 like = 1 prayer.

o1s1n

Is that guy completely naked in a pair of runners?

Retr0gamer

o1s1n wrote: »

Is that guy completely naked in a pair of runners?

Of course? How do you play CD-I?

CiDeRmAn

I don't remember how I play CDi, I only remember the overwhelming sadness followed by nausea and vomiting.
I mean, I don't even get that from the Virtual Boy!

DaveyDave

Listening to the Bully soundtrack in work, because why not!

TechnoFreek

Doge

Doge

And this little piggy went to the Arcade....

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-56023720

Retr0gamer

Doge wrote: »

His waifu is thrash compared to MvsC2.

80s Synth Pop

Apparently there is a sega r360 cab in a field somewhere in Ireland.

Anyone know where this is and send it to Ollie for a few years worth of YouTube refurb vids?

https://www.twitter.com/ted80808/status/1360971185522159627

YoshiSays

Sega were not afraid to dream big back then!
Wondering why Musk or Zuckerberg or Google et al don't create a modern VR version of this kind of thing.
Kinda lawnmower man stuff.
If only for marketing purposes.

Jack burton

80s Synth Pop wrote: »

Apparently there is a sega r360 cab in a field somewhere in Ireland.

Anyone know where this is and send it to Ollie for a few years worth of YouTube refurb vids?

https://www.twitter.com/ted80808/status/1360971185522159627

Apparently it's up North somewhere

£70'000 to buy new according to Google

o1s1n

Jack burton wrote: »

Apparently it's up North somewhere

Provo flight sim training? :pac:

DaveyDave

YoshiSays wrote: »

Sega were not afraid to dream big back then!
Wondering why Musk or Zuckerberg or Google et al don't create a modern VR version of this kind of thing.
Kinda lawnmower man stuff.
If only for marketing purposes.

Considering we have useless ****e like that Boring Company "flamethrower" and the likes of the KFC console, you wonder why they don't just make some big once off or PR stunt machine. The 15 minutes of fame on social media would be enough for it.

Jack burton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYH2sLid0Zc

I'm excited

Gradius

Could be good, it's off to a good start in that it doesn't look crap.

I prefer the original though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6O5pkBGWYY

Steve X2

Not retro related, but interesting.
Amazon are definitely holding some stock in Ireland at the moment. I ordered some small 3D printer replacement parts and a bunch of SD cards for Everdrives just after 10am this morning and they arrived in the door at 2pm(Amazon delivery guy, not An Post or courier).

Tracking was a bit weird, shows as entering customs clearance almost right away after the order, then out the door an hour later to be delivered. I have noticed that a lot of my Amazon orders the last month are getting delivered by Amazon instead of the usual suspects(but not as quick as today).
Looks like they are trying some new things with Irish deliveries, which I'm all for

sniper_samurai

Steve X2 wrote: »

Not retro related, but interesting.
Amazon are definitely holding some stock in Ireland at the moment. I ordered some small 3D printer replacement parts and a bunch of SD cards for Everdrives just after 10am this morning and they arrived in the door at 2pm(Amazon delivery guy, not An Post or courier).

Tracking was a bit weird, shows as entering customs clearance almost right away after the order, then out the door an hour later to be delivered. I have noticed that a lot of my Amazon orders the last month are getting delivered by Amazon instead of the usual suspects(but not as quick as today).
Looks like they are trying some new things with Irish deliveries, which I'm all for

Nothing new, they've been messing with orders for a while.

They've been actively hiding products for people with non UK postal addresses. For example Persona 5 Strikers doesn't show up at all until you change to a UK address such as Address Pal.

Once you are on the product page if you switch back to a non UK address it will state the product is "Temporarily out of stock".

DaveyDave

Steve X2 wrote: »

Not retro related, but interesting.
Amazon are definitely holding some stock in Ireland at the moment. I ordered some small 3D printer replacement parts and a bunch of SD cards for Everdrives just after 10am this morning and they arrived in the door at 2pm(Amazon delivery guy, not An Post or courier).

Tracking was a bit weird, shows as entering customs clearance almost right away after the order, then out the door an hour later to be delivered. I have noticed that a lot of my Amazon orders the last month are getting delivered by Amazon instead of the usual suspects(but not as quick as today).
Looks like they are trying some new things with Irish deliveries, which I'm all for

Amazon having a warehouse in Ireland and doing their own deliveries is a game changer. I saved a fortune in shipping costs with Prime in October/November just buying misc bits and pieces, having bought a house last year there was so many sudden realisations "oh we need XYZ".

Small things are so expensive here IF you can find them. Couldn't find a kettle lead for my PC and had to spend €7 shipping from an Irish site. Argos and PC World/Currys didn't have one. Need a USB C headphone adaptor? Nah, but they have 18 variants of iPhone cable! Need a long HDMI, USB or ethernet cable? That will cost you.

Amazon Basics range of cables are savage value for money. I can't just go out and buy an RCA to 3.5mm or DVI to HDMI cable locally. I needed to buy a dual port Powerline and Argos didn't have one, Amazon in two days from the UK at the weekend.

I have headphones arriving from Amazon Germany being delivered today. Weekend deliveries are great especially when you order something on a Friday and usually have to wait til Monday before it's even dispatched and I'm impatient when it comes to parcels especially since there's so many little things I should be able to buy locally the day I want it.

Sorry for rambling, it's just nice to have another option of purchasing and having convenience, especially during the pandemic I don't necessarily want to go to Liffey Valley just for a Brita jug!

Inviere

Very much agreed. It's the cost of "the little things" that really annoy me here....little adapters, plugs, cables, those kinda things....you get absolutely and needlessly roasted here for those things. As you say, that's IF you can even find them (and that usually means venturing out, paying rip off parking rates, dealing with shop staff who haven't been remotely trained properly, etc etc).

When you can have something shipped from another country, be dropped to your door, for far less cost than it would be to use b&m stores ten mins away, there's something wrong there. It usually boils down to the ridiculous rates and costs of doing business here, which get passed on to customers, who then understandably choose to use online instead, meaning retailers don't bother stocking stuff....vicious cycle.

The loser here is the bloody environment unfortunately

Shapey Fiend

The thing is I think most shops like Curry's or Argos cover their discounts on big ticket mainline products by putting 300% markup on things like cables. Amazon then attack those areas with discounts hoping to weed out the competition. Then when they have a monopoly on that product they jack the price back up. Plus it's probably a lot more tolerable working for these other places than Amazon which fairly burn through staff. Discounting is always tempting but it's not permanent and someone else is paying for it. Likes of Tesco have been at this for 30 years but Amazon are a more extreme example and the stock being so pumped up means they can sell stuff at a loss even more aggressively. There's talk of them setting up a distribution center near me in Shannon and I'm not wild about the idea even if it'd be convenient cos if they get too much leverage in the market I can see it being very destructive. I thankfully don't have a low skill job but I'm concerned if too many of those disappear nobody will be able to pay for the services I sell.

Jack burton

After seeing some of the ****e Amazon do to their staff im not too keen on buying from them. Sometimes it is unavoidable because they could be the only place stocking what I want.

johnny_ultimate

Yeah Amazon is a real ‘be careful what you wish for...’ situation. They have many awful labour practices, and frankly small local businesses can’t match their prices or customer service due to the sheer scale involved. Not to mention the wastage in terms of packaging and transportation.

I’m not going to pretend I don’t order from Amazon, because disappointingly it’s often the only way to go and the price gulf is too large - the nature of capitalism often wears down the ol’ moral objections. When it comes to local businesses especially in the electronic / computer component sector I think a lot of them really don’t have the sort of basics you’d expect a lot of the time - Amazon is often the quickest, cheapest and easiest option available, and it’s hardly like I’d be ordering incredibly odd or obscure parts.

But I do try to stick local to other things. I always buy books locally unless they’re not available. Similarly with games I try to stick to Smyths or the like. I’ll pop into the IFI film shop to see if a BluRay I’m looking for is available. Ditto for board games - prefer supporting the local shops. Sometimes the price is a few quid more, but outside computer components and more niche items I do try to avoid Amazon where possible. Obviously that’s changed a lot in the last year, but that alas is beyond anyone’s control.

Gradius

Never bought a single thing off Amazon, don't intend to.

As someone said above, it's all well and good saving a couple of euro now, but it'll ruin so many jobs in the medium term that many, many people will only be left with a couple of euro...and that will impact everyone.

All that's really happening is that the money that was spread out amongst many people is being consolidated into the hands of a very few. It's not creating anything and it can be well argued it's actually destructive.

Inviere

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Yeah Amazon is a real ‘be careful what you wish for...’ situation. They have many awful labour practices, and frankly small local businesses can’t match their prices or customer service due to the sheer scale involved. Not to mention the wastage in terms of packaging and transportation.

Small local businesses can't really compete, but then, they've had decades now to shift to competing in the online space. It's been written on the wall for a long time. An online presence could be used to try and support a physical presence, but you see many small local businesses having made no effort whatsoever to compete in shifting markets. These kinds of businesses need to get real (and I say that as someone who WANTS them to stick around), but there's many online portals now that are free, that can be used to help compete. It's as if many of them just can't be arsed though, and if they can't be arsed, that trickles down to customers not being arsed.

We're also not only considering small local physical businesses here, but huge multi million euro international chains like Dixons Carphone (who own curry's and pc world), taking the absolute piss with prices. Am I going to feel bad for paying 4.99 for a HDMI cable on Amazon instead of multiples of that in a Currys store? Not a hope. I get physical buildings come with overheads like rent, rates, insurance, staff, etc....but many of those overheads themselves are downright extortionate here in Ireland....for me, THATS what's harming businesses here, not the online competition. It must be one of the most expensive countries in the world to run a business in. On a political level, we need to take a long hard look at how we're pushing business away from bricks and mortar, but I don't see that happening....unfortunately.

Maybe I've the wrong view of it, but it seems these days it's mostly one international chain trying to compete with another. One is being ripped off just to turn the lights on, and as such, stands no chance. Yes amazon are **** to work for, we've all seen the expose. I wouldn't work for them, but that alone can't justify being absolutely jacksied by the costs of business by shopping elsewhere...for me anyway.

o1s1n

Gradius wrote: »

Never bought a single thing off Amazon, don't intend to.
.

I find it interesting and at the same time disheartening to see how much people rely on it now. Any time I go to my local post office to pick something up just seems to be wall to wall Amazon packages, you really can see how Jeff Bezos has so much money.

megaten

Its tough to avoid them, tried to get a volume of manga and spent several weeks trying to get it from an Irish bookseller which ended up in them not being able to get it at all so I had to order off bookdepository which is owned by amazon.

I think a lot of Irish stores are ultimately at the mercy of wholesalers who are probably not inclined to hold onto much stock for such a small market.

sniper_samurai

megaten wrote: »

Its tough to avoid them, tried to get a volume of manga and spent several weeks trying to get it from an Irish bookseller which ended up in them not being able to get it at all so I had to order off bookdepository which is owned by amazon.

I think a lot of Irish stores are ultimately at the mercy of wholesalers who are probably not inclined to hold onto much stock for such a small market.

Outside of comic shops there are pretty much no retailers selling manga and anime may as well not exist.

megaten

sniper_samurai wrote: »

Outside of comic shops there are pretty much no retailers selling manga and anime may as well not exist.

Not living near any but I can't say I've ever had any luck ordering specific manga from comics shops either, whatever they had on shelves was usually indicative of what could be ordered in. Like I said I think most shops are at the mercy of wholesalers and distributers that make their own decisions on what they will stock.

sniper_samurai

megaten wrote: »

Not living near any but I can't say I've ever had any luck ordering specific manga from comics shops either, whatever they had on shelves was usually indicative of what could be ordered in. Like I said I think most shops are at the mercy of wholesalers and distributers that make their own decisions on what they will stock.

I get my manga in Dublin City Comics and I've never had an issue with getting anything from them.

It is easier to get manga via Diamond rather than book wholesalers though.

Of course if a title is out of print it will be unavailable. I find Dark Horse to be particularly bad at keeping titles in print. Berserk is their highest selling title, even above their US stuff like Hellboy and a lot of the volumes a constantly unavailable due to low print runs.