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You don't need the games to support gamepads if you get the right adapter.

Any Windows game that supports more than one player on a single machine probably already supports gamepads through DirectInput. But I agree that something like JoyToKey is useful for Flash games such as Balloon Duel, as Flash has no native gamepad support, or for playing single-player or online games from the couch.

I just recently bought a Mayflash usb-adapter ($10) that allows 2 Wii classic/classic pro gamepads to be plugged into one usb-port.

You're talking about the PC045, right? I'll have to get one and try it out. Does it need a special driver ported only to Windows, or does it appear as a standard HID so that Linux and Mac OS X can use it? I've had good luck with the EMS USB2, which allows using two PlayStation or PlayStation 2 controllers with any game that supports gamepads or with JoyToKey, without needing a special driver.

This guy has the right idea and this is what I meant.

I was once part of a particular arcade game emulation community (smaller than MAME) and the copy protections there ranged from non-existant, to the trivial, to the standard baked serial codes on the ROMs/hard drives and boards, to ones with security chips that performed very obnoxious operations in place for the main code itself, or outright served as an encryption device for the whole game data bank, decrypting on the fly for the CPU. The only way these particular ones were beaten were because the encryption method was simple and after patching out the security chip calls, the program could use the unencrypted data files natively. If you need an example of popular arcade games that took literally years to break because of aggressive copy protections of this sort, take a look at the CPS boards, made by Capcom. The early boards took a significant amount of time to emulate and make physical boards revivable - the CPS-3 board protection's death can be dated to approximately the year 2007. Not bad for hardware from 1996, I think. An intelligently designed system that used an encryption like AES would be an absolute nightmare to defeat, and would likely have to be defeated in similar, insane ways like burning off a chip's casing, then taking a photo of the physical layout of the chip in order to get at the data, as was the case for Mask ROMs. For a PC where you can take a dump from memory to snatch the key or the decrypted executable which you can then crack in standard ways, so this is less relevant, but it's still a higher entry bar - but most cracker groups voluntarily challenge themselves to defeat software packers and encrypters, so if your program is big enough to attract attention of one of those, it will be a matter of days rather than minutes. And then there are the folk that create home made replica server programs for MMOs so that they can hack the rules and drop rates, so there's always someone with the skill to write the assembly code to do what has to be done, even if they can't SEE what they're trying to copy.

At a significant cost, you CAN briefly deter pirates, except for only the most dedicated. If your software is niche enough (you imply that it is, at this stage) then you can survive with moving functionality off onto the hardware dongle. There are PC games that save profile data directly onto a USB stick, and some of these have been niche enough to make this barrier to cracking too high to overcome for years.

Is your software small enough, is your need big enough to foot this cost and inconvenience to your users? Can't answer that one for you.

I use a Hori arcade stick to play guitar hero one handed on my PS3.

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-zl-77-2-49-en-15-hori+stick-70-1rrr.html

It's totally playable, you're not using a pretend guitar (obviously), but it's still good fun.

In this instance I could understand a gamer's frustration and why they might download it off the web (because they can't a company willing to ship overseas).

It's actually really easy to find companies that will ship overseas. NCSX and Play Asia are both big importers. Amazon.jp will ship to the US and accepts US credit cards, too, but you have to read some Japanese to use them. The only excuse for piracy is that you're not willing to pay, really.

Cool!

I'm excited about the potential to get a Super Famicom controller for the Wii, but at the rate that it takes to get points, it may be easier to just pay for it to be imported.

So I can spend half as much (or more) as a new console in order to transform a PC into a tv machine

You have to buy multiple controllers for a console too, and it's still a lot cheaper than buying multiple PCs, monitors, keyboards, and mice for a typical LAN FPS. Besides, you may already own suitable controllers:

• Xbox 360 controllers work in a PC since Windows XP Service Pack 1.
• PS3 SIXAXIS controllers work in a PC with a driver.
• Controllers for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 work through the EMS USB2 adapter ($16).
• Rock Band for Xbox 360 comes with a USB hub so that you can plug more than two controllers into the front of a PC.

and play whichh games that support two or four player on the same screen?

Plenty of EA Sports titles work, as do the official arcade emulators by Atari, Midway, Namco, and Capcom, as well as the titles on this list. And once you're done gaming, you can use the TV to watch YouTube, Hulu, or any other internet video application.

Nah, the console is designed for that environment and as I say, it just works.

If you think HTPC gaming is impractical, then on which platform should an indie developer publish its first party game?

The consoles have no pornographic games?

Hehe, don't be so innocent...

Here are two examples (not porn):

Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper for the wii

and

Doki_Doki_Majo_Shinpan! for the DS.

Also, don't forget about the unofficial illegal porn games for consoles...

This CAN be a console.

USB Hub + USB controllers + TV-Out = Multiplayer/Singleplayer on TV. If you have something like this: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-6m-49-en-70-qc4.html the hub may be unnecessary.

USB hard/flash drives would work too.

There's also price. Of course pandora has many more features, perhaps a comparison is in order. @#$!@#$ slashdot doesn't support tables, so this is the best I could do :

Pandora

Pandora
ARM Cortex-A8 600MHz CPU
128M ram
3D opengl ES 2.0 acceleration
800x480 4.3" touchscreen LCD
Wifi
Keyboard
dual SDHC card (both expansion and storage)
Internal battery and USB charger
$329.99 / £199.99 (Inc VAT) / E249.99 (Inc VAT)

GP2x WIZ

Wiz
533Mhz ARM CPU
64M ram
3D opengl acceleration
OLED Touch Screen 2.8" 320x200
No wifi (BUT easy to add because of USB host)
No keyboard (BUT again, easy to add because of USB host)
single SD card (both expansion and storage, 99% sure SDHC card)
Internal battery and USB charger (thank God ! compared to GP2X F-200 this is heaven)

US$ 179.90 (~124.32 EUR)

PSP

PSP
PSP cpu 333Mhz
32M ram (64M for the psp slim)
3D acceleration (?)
480x272 LCD screen (great screen imho)
Wifi
MS pro duo expansion (expensive, only storage)
Internal battery and USB charger
Probably USB host capability but not useable

US$ 213.99 (179 euro)

Surprisingly of all these devices it's the PSP that has the largest library of emulators (even a "somewhat playable" n64 emu, something the pandora devs think impossible (read the gp2x forums ... well ... euhm tomorrow should be better, right ?)

As an ebook reader the PSP blows the socks of the WIZ though, even if just because of larger screen, and it is also larger than the pandora, so I wonder.

This list is limited to devices with actual useable gaming controls. The iphone/ipod touch and the nokia n810 are obvious competitors, but lack (decent) gaming controls. Actually the n810 is kinda nice, I ought to try one.

As an Australian, part of the problem is that prices were set when the Aussie Economy was far weaker. If we look at the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo being a Japanese company the price in AU (A$399) is about 42,000,000 JPY whilst the US$250 price tag is about 26,000,000 JPY. Historically it wasn't always like this but it is today and companies are not in a hurry to stop gouging Australians.

This will eventually stop, I've stopped shopping at EB Games and now purchase games from Play Asia based out of Hong Kong, most games are between $40 and $55 USD for new releases and older games are cheaper, postage is between $5 and $10 USD, with the AUD/USD exch rate being roughly 0.97 USD for AUD games really are half the price to import. The last two games I bought online using Stardock's Stardock Central system and paid in USD, even with postage (a ridiculous $20 USD) it was A$25 cheaper than purchasing it locally.

Now I just need to find an alternative for DVD's and Books (Amazon is not an alternative, especially for books, "A Forrest of stars" costs $14 USD with $5 USD postage on Amazon, I can pick it up at Borders in Perth city for A$20 and not wait weeks for delivery).

As an Australian please let me say, the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) needs to be beaten upside the head with a Cluebat, repeatedly. The only reason any of those games were banned is because Australia does not have an R18+ rating for video games so if it isn't M15+ it cant possibly get classification (yet it's there for Films, Books, Comics, portraits and artwork FFS). The OFLC did vote on an R18+ classification but voted against it because the idiot Attorney Generals had no understanding of the media involved.

Well there's always play-aisa, an online store based in HK. good for cheap PC and PS3 games (don't have a PS3 so don't quote me on that) but not for xbox and Wii due to region gouging, I mean coding

Not only does it get around the OFLC (as long as its not banned, refusing classification just prohibits Australian retailers from selling it but you can still buy and import it from another country), it is also cheaper than going to EB games ($90 AU is now $84 US, so why am I paying nearly twice as much for a game when the same game is $49 US on Play-Asia even with US$10 for P&H).

I have Lego Star Wars on the television via PC, and it is surprisingly fun. It is multiplayer and definatley designed for a controler. I use Playstation controlers and EMS usb connector http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-6m-49-en-15-ems-70-1b5.html

Does Play-Asia count as overseas because it's located in Hong Kong? I did a quick search and it doesn't seem to be on the site (maybe it was before), but assuming it is the same price as the Xbox 360 version (59$) while the US version of the game from the official site has it listed at 49$, were people really trying to save money? Or were they just buying it from non-US based sites for the convenience of it? For example, you're buying 3 other games from the same site, why get a 4th game from the official site when I can save on SHIPPING, and not necessarily the game itself? On the other hand, shipping costs are typically more expensive from overseas than it would be for regular ground shipping + currency conversion fees (2.5% for my credit card :/). So, maybe people were getting this game for a DRASTICALLY lower price (sites? anyone?) or else why would they go through the trouble?

Why bother competing with an analogue stick? Have the best of both worlds!

1. I would assume that any most modern games PC games that supports more than 2 players does so via a LAN, to be honest. I honestly have little interest in anything but fighting games when it comes to these types of titles.

2. I'm not certain how each individual compilation set works. It is said that "Atari: 80 Classic Games in One" for PCs have certain issues on some games, for example. If you want the real deal, I'd go out and try to buy an original arcade PCB. ;)

3. IANNAL but from my interpretation of 17 USC 602, there should be no issue as long as you aren't buying bootlegs and are using them for private use. As you assumed, however, there are no localized English translations of the games I mentioned. As far as cost goes, Melty Blood Act Cadenza Ver.B goes for about $60 at the following URL - http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-7s-49-en-70-21 md.html. Although I do read Japanese on an elementary level, it is a fighting game, so I don't think not being able to read Japanese will greatly impact your ability to actually play through the game's content.

I have found a way to mitigate the problem of the nub, but it costs $3.99 from Play Asia (there's a better pack of "nubs" than what Gamestop sells.)

http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-bh-49-en-70-1g ii.html

I currently use the raised "ribbed" nub... (insert phallic joke here..) and it improved my control on Super GnG 100-fold. The 2nd set of platform lava jumps was kicking my arse until I got the new nub... now I'm moving on and running like I stole something... ;)

It's something to consider. (I actually like the PSP... I didn't initially...) But I use it to play games... and watch ripped movies... not bothering with the "yet another movie format" of UMD. It's got some great titles... and it's got such a pretty screen for a handheld. :)

No good for me as im in the UK and they wont ship there but Play Asia are selling PSPs for 159.99 dollars at the moment http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-2pz-71-9e-49-e n-84-j-70-1p3t.html

Sudoku was fun, but the majority of the fun with any of these puzzles for me was figuring out solution methods for myself. Sudoku is now so heavily documented as to be trivial to solve, even at the highest difficulty levels (Especially if you have the patience to try Bowman's Bingo).

After getting burned out on Sudoku, I found out about Nikoli, and the other myriad puzzles they publish. At first I started with Hashiwokakero, then quickly moved on to Heyawake, Nurikabe, Hitori, Akari, Ripple Effect, Masyu, and even some not listed on the English version of Nikoli's website (Kin Kon Kan is particularly fun, once you figure out the rules).

In that time, I've ordered several books from Nikoli's website, traded for books with occasional Japanese acquaintances, and hunted Japanese auction sites for out of print editions. In short, it's expensive and time consuming to feed my language-independent logic puzzle habit. I'd be very happy if some stateside publisher would put out a magazine akin to Nikoli's "Puzzle Communication", or a compilation of new puzzles. I've seen a few books featuring other Nikoli puzzle types, but they do not feature more than 3 or 4 different puzzle types. Games magazine's puzzle magazines frequently feature Nurikabe and Slither Link, but only 2-5 puzzles per issue. What I want is variety and volume. Lots of different puzzles, lots of instances of each.

By the way, those with the ability/desire to import Japanese video games might want to check out Puzzle Series for the Nintendo DS. Volume 5 is Slither Link, Volume 6 is Illust Logic (Known to many as Picross, Nonograms, Edel, or Paint by Numbers), Volume 10 is Hitori, Volume 11 is Nurikabe, and Volume 12 is Akari (Light Up). You may also want to check out Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection. NetGame is particularly interesting.

And of course, no discussion of grid-based, wordless logic puzzles is complete without a mention of Solitaire Battleships, which currently cruises under the radar with the name Yubotu.

You don't have a clue, do you?

http://www.dabs.com/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=3ZY 1&SearchType=1&CategorySelectedId=11034&SearchTerm s=controller&PageMode=3&SearchKey=All&SearchMode=A ll&NavigationKey=11034&v=2#infoarea
http://www.play.com/PC/PCs/4-/842412/Microsoft_XBo x_360_Controller_For_Windows/Product.html
http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-6m-49-en-70-fi 1.html
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/07/ 1815222

I've used a wireless mouse and keyboard to play FPS games on a TV, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it so long as you have an armchair to rest your mouse on.

Only last year was the last Dreamcast game released (in Japan)

Wrong. There are still more being released.

Oh, for the love of Miyamoto aren't we over this yet? I've have a gamepad of some sort plugged into my PC for over a decade. Remember serial ports? You could get gamepads for them. Right now I have a a gamecube controller plugged into my PC, a force-feedback flightstick and a dancemat to go with that, and I've used a wheel before too. Since USB came along supporting 4 controllers simultaneously hasn't been difficult, and you can play 4-player Smash Bros with controllers on PC with no trouble.

USB controller.

Xbox 360 wired controller works with PC via USB as standard.

Console to USB adaptors are dirt cheap and easily available.

Wii remote is standard bluetooth, you can use it with a PC.

Yes, they don't come packed it with a standard $399 PC, but anyone who actually cares enough about the issue to think "hey, it'd be neat if I could plug my PS2 controller into my PC" can spend 5 minutes shopping online and get it done.

I'm waiting for a solution that will let me play this http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-z3-49-en-70-1t 4w.html

Once they have that, be it freeloader, modchip or otherwise. I'm sold.

It's a small point I guess but

"The Dreamcast games Last, Hope Karous and Trigger Heart Exelica will the last officially licensed Sega games"

should actually read

"The Dreamcast games Last Hope, Karous and Trigger Heart Exelica will the last officially licensed Sega games"

The games are

Last Hope
Karous
Trigger Heart Exelica

It's a small point I guess but

"The Dreamcast games Last, Hope Karous and Trigger Heart Exelica will the last officially licensed Sega games"

should actually read

"The Dreamcast games Last Hope, Karous and Trigger Heart Exelica will the last officially licensed Sega games"

The games are

Last Hope
Karous
Trigger Heart Exelica

It's a small point I guess but

"The Dreamcast games Last, Hope Karous and Trigger Heart Exelica will the last officially licensed Sega games"

should actually read

"The Dreamcast games Last Hope, Karous and Trigger Heart Exelica will the last officially licensed Sega games"

The games are

Last Hope
Karous
Trigger Heart Exelica

1. It was announced that the Wii is not Region free all games are region locked on the Wii.
2. The Xbox 360 console does not region lock to games, but developers can choose to region lock their games, a lot of the Xbox 360 games (particularly those in japan that are not available in the US) are not region locked. (list1 list 2 )
3. The PS3 console also does not region lock to games using a similar scheme of developer choice as whether or not to lock their games.

It sounds like you've been misinformed.

The controller that comes with your game, or the japanese version: http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-88-49-zh-70-14 xa.html are both inadequate. There are some third parties that made a controller for this game (guitarfreaks in jp) that's substantially heavier, but most importantly, the buttons are more tactile. They click like mouse buttons. Unfortunately I've lost the name.

I get so PO'ed using any guitar controllers I switched back to the PS2 pads. Just choose the inverse button layout, or assign your own layout by holding the pad upside down, using the analog sticks for picks. You'd be surprised how good it is to handle.

Yes, it is a big money saver. But do remember, it's only games that specifically mention they're region-free. Others on the site that don't mention this will not run on your 360, so remember to check before buying one.

I don't know Lik-Sang too well myself, but this might go a little way towards replacing them - http://www.play-asia.com/ They've still got some Dreamcast stuff, heh.. 3

This isn't the first time Lik-Sang have run into trouble. They changed hands a year or two ago when they were being sued for selling mod-chips. I thought they'd at least be safe now, but no. Perhaps Sony should have funnelled the money they spent on the lawsuit into making their SoundStage software half-decent and producing an MP3 player that doesn't use their shitty ATRAC format.

Why should these companies realistically care anyway? It's not like consumers are buying those crappy knock-offs of consoles you could get during the days of the SNES. And as for safety reasons? What the hell? How would Sony be liable? Most hardware I've bought contains pages and pages of legalese saying where it's intend for use in, what voltage it takes etc. The fact is, this is all about control. Companies are scared of not having 100% control over where customers get their products from. If they really want to regain control, they should try not only equalizing prices, but actually ensuring there's a simultaneous release of their products across the world. Releasing the PS3 in March in the UK certainly doesn't help things.

As for Sony's comments that the PS3 'will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs', I wouldn't buy a PS3 or a X-Box 360 for playing HD DVDs. Certainly, neither's HD facility will be region-free. And there are myriad titles that never get released in a certain region. Unless you only have an interest in watching mainstream blockbusters, a region-free player is a must. And the PS2's DVD performance was laughable. Not because it was poor quality, but because when you tried to watch any film in RGB mode, it green tinted the picture. Apparently this was some kind of copy protection measure. Yes, even though DVDs have macrovision. Who's to say the PS3 won't have some daft similar limitation.

...Trance Vibrator is for!

Hmm... how about the Trance Vibrator from the game REZ. You remember, the one featured in the infamous GameGirlAdvance article.

Unfortunately, I bought it quite a long time ago and it doesn't seem to exist online any more. It was something like http://www.play-asia.com/paOS-13-71-6m-49-en-70-k5 n.html except that it was gc/xbox only and I modified the xbox end to be usb, and used the xbox joypad drivers for windows.

I'm guessing I can't find it any more because the other ones I'm finding are 'better' and noboby bothers with the old ones... But I like mine just fine.

Board games are really fun, and there's been alot of new board games that just simply beat out other party games. A strong favorite of mine is Carcassonne (probably familiar to most of you) -- for the sole reason that the gameplay is simple, yet you can make the game quite complex, if you just want to.

Otherwise, for electronic entertainment, (God bless) a modded or imported PS2. I don't really have the time to enjoy long games, a shame, really, as I'd die to play some Kingdom Hearts 2, but if you want a quick game of something, what I'd really recommend is getting a game such as pop'n music or beatmania IIDX (known in the US as beatmania). Imports can quite easily be ordered on-line from sites like Play-Asia or Lik-Sang.

Where the latter might be quite difficult for some people, pop'n music is good, clean fun to escape the world for a while, into another world of wacky, fun music simulation - and I can swear, you won't run out of challenge, even if it's easy to learn.

Perhaps your post was in jest, but you can have a look at Rakuhiki Jiten DS and the upcoming Kanji Sonomama edition. Though be advised that they're mainly for Japanese people, which means there are a couple of hurdles for the non-native speaker (like no kana pronunciation shown when searching the English-Japanese dictionary).

Perhaps your post was in jest, but you can have a look at Rakuhiki Jiten DS and the upcoming Kanji Sonomama edition. Though be advised that they're mainly for Japanese people, which means there are a couple of hurdles for the non-native speaker (like no kana pronunciation shown when searching the English-Japanese dictionary).

Parent hit the head in the nail.

This move from Sony is just as BS as what they announced on BR : the hardware allows region control, but do not force it. So it's up to the publisher to decide if he want the protection or not.

Just look at the already "region-free" xbox360 games. There are not that many...

This is a PR move to appear nice, but without substance. Just expect some more trademarks lawsuits from Sony UK on importers. It was really ugly with the PSP...

The console knows what region it belongs to, it has to know this so it knows what type of video signal to output and what language options should be available to the user (and other things like how the date/time should be formatted etc.).

Region free doesn't mean the console doesn't know what region it belongs in, it simply means it can play content from any region

I don't know what "MS BS" I've been swallowing but AFAIK MS never claimed their consoles were region free... BUT the console are not actually region locked. Don't believe me? Here's a list You can see some games can play on any console, other's can't, its completely up to the developer/publisher but there are no securities built into the console nor MS regulations that would prevent them from making region free games.

You'll note that the site I linked to does not feature a Playstation 2 region compatibility chart... WHY? because the PS2 console itself IS region locked. In that if it detects a region mis-match between itself and the game disc it wont allow it to play REGARDLESS of how the game is programed.

That's the difference between a region locked console and a not-region locked console.

Just because Sony decides to start doing something that others in the industry have been doing for year doesn't make it new.

Only Lik Sang or Play Asia can help us now. I wonder how much an import price of about 195 for a Japanese PSP will hurt sales of the European version.

If someone told you that the PSP is a portable gaming device, shoot these people. The PSP is not a portable gaming device, it is really a convergent portable entertainment device.

Right, because the history of convergent entertainment devices is long and illustrious. They would be fools to not want some of this action.

And going with a brand new disk standard that nobody has and nobody sells as a medium for selling movies? It's a brilliant maneuver from some of the industry's best minds.

I should say that the Sony reps I've worked with about other things have been completely with it and didn't lose sight of reality. So what happened to this guy?

(links are informative, not endorsing)

"Touching is good but feeling is better."

As long as their plan isn't something like this.

One of my friends showed me a commercial for this. Two young half naked boys in front of the tv enjoying their game. It was a bit disgusting. :)

On eBay, only 2 weeks ago I found a Japanese importer who had several PSP units to sell (pre-releases that would be shipped for 12/12). I guess he figured the demand would be huge and he would make big profit, so he started the bid at $0 to get attention. It turned out, most people had never even heard of PSP selling yet and thought it was a scam (many questions to the seller at the bottom of the auction included, "Are you selling a link?" "Why are you selling this 3-4 months before the release?." Or possibly people saw the retail value of $200-250 and felt if they paid more they would be getting ripped-off.

Long story short, I managed to snag me one for just over $200US (and $25US shipping to Canada, which I find is fairly reasonable). The same unit on eBay as we speak is going for $600-$700US. I guess it pays to find these things out early ;)

Even retailers, such as Lik-Sang are taking advantage of the demand by jacking up prices. They claim it is "out of their control," although Sony still claims to lose $250US on each unit (eep).

A couple weeks ago before I managed to snag the eBay auction, I had going around trying to find short pre-order lines (or finding unethical ways of cutting in line). Everyone has their price, right? After several emails back and forth from goldenshop, I found Ronald's price was $400US for the value pack. I told him I was interested, only because it may have been my only chance to get a unit before Christmas. We agreed upon $29 shipping, and things seemed to be settled. Well, that was until yesterday. I guess Ronald got quite a few of these "deals" once customers found out how limited the supply was. His "Buy-It-Now" price (so to speak), is now US$635 (followed again with the "this price is beyond our control" line). I immediately refused the offer. Only minutes later he responds back, telling me if I wait a bit, he might lower it. It sounds like a reverse-eBay method, starting high, and seeing how low he has to go before he can sell them all. Not a bad idea at all, but why not just auction them on eBay? For a slightly lower price, for around $584, you can get the Standard Pack from success-hk.

If you don't mind waiting a bit, I highly recommend play-asia. Even with all the pre-order hype, they had a very reasonable price (around retail). When they found they were accepting more orders than they could handle, they promptly closed their pre-order lines. They also had the very first review of the PSP, even though it was a bit stingy on many details.

On eBay, only 2 weeks ago I found a Japanese importer who had several PSP units to sell (pre-releases that would be shipped for 12/12). I guess he figured the demand would be huge and he would make big profit, so he started the bid at $0 to get attention. It turned out, most people had never even heard of PSP selling yet and thought it was a scam (many questions to the seller at the bottom of the auction included, "Are you selling a link?" "Why are you selling this 3-4 months before the release?." Or possibly people saw the retail value of $200-250 and felt if they paid more they would be getting ripped-off.

Long story short, I managed to snag me one for just over $200US (and $25US shipping to Canada, which I find is fairly reasonable). The same unit on eBay as we speak is going for $600-$700US. I guess it pays to find these things out early ;)

Even retailers, such as Lik-Sang are taking advantage of the demand by jacking up prices. They claim it is "out of their control," although Sony still claims to lose $250US on each unit (eep).

A couple weeks ago before I managed to snag the eBay auction, I had going around trying to find short pre-order lines (or finding unethical ways of cutting in line). Everyone has their price, right? After several emails back and forth from goldenshop, I found Ronald's price was $400US for the value pack. I told him I was interested, only because it may have been my only chance to get a unit before Christmas. We agreed upon $29 shipping, and things seemed to be settled. Well, that was until yesterday. I guess Ronald got quite a few of these "deals" once customers found out how limited the supply was. His "Buy-It-Now" price (so to speak), is now US$635 (followed again with the "this price is beyond our control" line). I immediately refused the offer. Only minutes later he responds back, telling me if I wait a bit, he might lower it. It sounds like a reverse-eBay method, starting high, and seeing how low he has to go before he can sell them all. Not a bad idea at all, but why not just auction them on eBay? For a slightly lower price, for around $584, you can get the Standard Pack from success-hk.

If you don't mind waiting a bit, I highly recommend play-asia. Even with all the pre-order hype, they had a very reasonable price (around retail). When they found they were accepting more orders than they could handle, they promptly closed their pre-order lines. They also had the very first review of the PSP, even though it was a bit stingy on many details.

In the Japanese Manga, Video Game, and Anime, the world is already using tiny little robot girls to eliminate the insect population of the world with giant weapons. And you can dress them up in cute doll clothes!

I present to you the Region 2 Godzilla Final Box, due in April of 2005 for the low price of $989.00.

The name of the game was Ore no Ryouri, sometimes called Ore no Ryori, an alternative spelling. I never played the full version, only the one that came with one of the Playstation Underground disks. You're right, it was a great game, and I would love to get my hands on a full version. Lots of info is available with a little googling.

StarROMs is not the only way to get legal ROMs for MAME, HanaHo distributes Capcom games with their products, and you can get some SNK games like the Metal Slug series at Play-Asia

(The site says they are ports, but I know for a fact that at least Metal Slug Collector's Edition includes the ROMs for the first three Metal Slug games)