The truth is, religion spans wide across state borders. So does ignorance. When I drive from Pennsylvania into Maryland and Washington, D.C., I do not feel as though I am passing some geographical flux of cultures.
Get onto I-68E in Morgantown, WV. Drive towards Baltimore or DC. Listen only to the radio(no sattelite, no CDs, no i-Pod), preferably with a weaker tuner so you get a better feel of what's being broadcast. AM or FM, your choice(AM is a bit better).
Show me what media you broadcast and you show me your culture.
Now, are you going to tell me that anything less than nearly all of this 800k are *not* in the hands of consumers ?
Wait 2 weeks. Check the numbers. I doubt more than 87% have been sold(around 700,000), since there shouldn't be a sudden production surge(from 62k in a week to 110k per week) over the past 11 days, nor did some new game worth mentioning descend from the heavens.
Because I feel pedantic: A Linux computer is a PC(or rather can be). Hell, a Mac is a PC*.
A Square is a Rectangle, but all rectangles are not squares.
A personal computer running windows is a PC, but not all PCs run Windows.
* - Even if you go the whole IBM PC == x86 == PC 80s era shit, if you run Linux on your PC, it's STILL a PC.
Not to mention that Linux video drivers aren't bad. We just use OpenGL instead of DirectX. Which would bring us into an entire Winmodem v. Modem esque debate I really don't feel like having.
Anywho, as to Linux Gaming or Linux on the Desktop. I use Linux for both servers and on a desktop, if there were commercial games available for it that I wanted, I would certainly buy them, but I feel no real imperative to run about evangelizing for it.
Lagering time!!!! Find a cave, or a nice cool spot(but not freezing), and brew yourself some lager. It's the perfect time for it, and we've been having lovely weather for it in some parts of the US.
Obviously not $149(+tax) worth of excited. Or else you'd pick up a copy of it and one of those holiday gamecube bundles that I still saw in stock when I picked up my copy.
Anyway, RE4 hits the PS2 Q4 of this year, unless more shennanigans occur(like RE4/VJ going to the PS2 in the first place despite certain Capcom people expressing distaste for the platform). I expect it won't look as good and will have far more visible loading times. On the upside, it'll probably be cheaper and have extras like VJ did. It's also very, very good, so even if it does suffer a graphical tonedown and loading times it'll still kick ass.
New "Mature" Zelda, Starfox and probably "Mario 128" should hit by the time the PS2 version comes out, and I'm sure there are enough games for the cube you could get cheap and used to make the $99 bundle purchase worth it.
On another note, wasn't this the same site AND the same editor that posted about Halo on the Gizmondo, a rumor Bungie themselves debunked? Plus, he submitted it himself, and submitted a 4 month old Nintendo is dying article himself but a few days or weeks back.
Looks like I might need to go to preferences->homepage and uncheck the Zonk box soon.
Of course, I still hold the opinion that the Gamecube is a throw-away product. It was meant to try and make up for the tragedies of the N64, while still being careful. Even if they don't sell the most, they are still making a large wad of cash, because they aren't shorting themselves on the console price. I think they're using the GCN to test the waters, see where edges are, and the info they gather now will be used to make the Revolution trump everything when it comes out.
I kinda agree with you. I think the DS is part of this too. The big thing the GCN did for me was make up for the N64. After SEGA's repeated failings/support problems/allergy to money, I started to take a wait and see approach to their consoles. A lot of people did. Hence the failure that was the dreamcast(even though SEGA finally did good after wha? 3 bad platforms? it was too late). This infected me, and I grabbed a PS2 first round of this generation(now very broken). A few Gamecube games came out that I thought looked interesting, and I snapped up a Cube to give the big N their final chance.
Haven't regretted it, and I'll be buying a revolution when it launches, sight unseen. I don't trust Sony and I don't trust Microsoft, so they're the wait and sees now.
Close, but you also have to pretty much completely ignore entire genres, consoles and all but eliminate the PC from contention in order to have a Spike TV awards show. Oh and you still have to find a way to ignore awesomeness like Ninja Gaiden.
Gots to make room for dah snoop dog rapping over some motley crue yo.
Wha? You're nuts. Microsoft's first/second party development doesn't hold a candle to Nintendo's, and they're about tied when it comes to 3rd party exclusive development(which is to say, both screwed by Sony[Something 3rd party does well, it's getting ported to the PS2!]).
And yea, I think they(MS) did buy something. Looking at sales of a number of things like Burnout 2, the worst selling platform was kept(XBox), while the 2nd best selling version was dropped.
First of all, the spelling errors: it's disaster not desaster, Slashdot not Slashdot.
Second off, this is a technology site, not a human interest site. It's covered it before, no need to link. This has been on the front page since disaster relief was set up, and it doesn't even pertain to the site's main interest.
Third of all, fuck you. *Series of obscene gestures*
Fourth, here's a Peace Sign for all of the British people reading this comment, no offense meant to the french over that nasty hundred years war thing.
Oh yea, and fuck you you karma whoring anti-site non spelling non grammatically correct negative bastard. Go look at the pictures, it's utter destruction. I'd mod you down if I participated in moderation, but a string of obsenities makes me feel better you fucking bridge dweller.
Now, editors, mod this post down(I'll even use my bonus for once), abuse your infinite powers for good, because it deserves it.
You've been up and down this thread bashing it. The people that I know that imported one love it and the developers that I know that have worked with it are busting a nut. But hey, you fanboy up huh?
They must not be very imaginative then. The possibilities inherant in the DS's feature set from a game design standpoint are very exciting. The PSP is just same old, same old only handheld. There's nothing you can do on it that you can't do better on an existing console.
You're not a very critical thinkin' guy either Mike. Let me take off my fanboy hat and put on my critical thinking cap.
I predict in terms of games: 1. The DS will have better controls for FPSes, anything menu driven(like RPGS), and some unique puzzle games. If it would benefit from mouse input/a programmable interface, it'll have a better control scheme on the DS. 2. The PSP will have better controls for anything where the analog stick is necessary. Racing games, 3rd person 3D games like GTA, stuff like that. Don't expect any FPSes with good controls.
Those are the gametypes best suited to each system imo. Pick your poison.
Anyway, only devotees are gonna be buying either system at this point. Normal people should wait until towards the end of the year and evaluate the game selection then.
Greatest Generation: Damned kids and your fancy punch cards! We had to hand-write our machine specific instructions on a drum with kitchen magnets, and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
Baby Boomers: Damned kids and your keyboards! We had to punch holes in cards for machine specific instructions and do everything on mainframes, and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
50s/60s: Damned kids and your object oriented programming and your Virtual Machines! In my day we used assembly and, later, C, on mainframes and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
70s/80s/90s: Damned kids with your do what I mean to function. Back in my day we actually had to use logic instead of having the machine be psychic, and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
I thought he was saying he didn't want to buy an Atari to play wolf 3d.
They should make kids play Wing Commander and some of the old Lucasarts/Sierra adventure games. Sam and Max hit the Road! Monkey Island! Quest for Glory!
GBA(or a DS, but it has no link port!) and a Flashcart works too. You can fit just about every game worth playing from the 2600 through to the SMS/NES on even a small cart.
More expensive than a secondhand dreamcast, but it's portable! And you can purchase a bunch of remakes/reissues for the GBA.
The earliest game i really enjoyed was wolf3d, and still play it every one and a whild, but I dont want to spend money on an old consile (atari)
Uhhh.... My head asplode.
Re:Halo 2 severely overrated...
on
More GOTY Awards
·
· Score: 1
You're in Europe, you guys went gaga over crazy things in the 80s!
Anyway, go to IGN, Gamespot, or any of the main US-based magazines or sites. Read their reviews of any number of games, particularly extremely hyped things like Halo 2. Absolutely no knowledge of everything that came before is displayed. Their forums are worse.
When people call things new that aren't new at all within a genre, the simplest explanation is that they didn't play the games where those features were used. This seems quite prevalent in reviews of gametypes that have crossed over from the PC, like FPSes. For everything else, well, they don't make 2D games much anymore...
Too bad you guys are in Europe and thus 6 months+ behind the NA release cycle. I read through a few of your reviews and found them to actually be quite a bit better than most.
Re:Halo 2 severely overrated...
on
More GOTY Awards
·
· Score: 1
Well critics don't count. Most game critics think video games started with the playstation. Hell, most gamers too. Which is like taking a film critic who has never heard of Casablanca or the Godfather seriously. Oh, and the film critic's publication only advertises movies, and movie playing equipment.
Ahh... like a lot of things related to marketing and retail(like data mining)... the idea of RFID in the hands of commercial interests exites me. The idea of how a government could misuse it terrifies me.
Movie nights, going out to bars/clubs, things of that nature? It's called organizing a social activity, and this doesn't stop when you get out of grade school or high school or college or get a significant other or get married. And when you have kids you do this kind of shit all the time. Board games, card games, things that require a group of people in the same place at the same time.
Online play is an attempt at emulating this, satisfying that need every person has for social interaction. But it's not the same. Multiplay on one console is a social gathering, like a poker game. A poker game requires getting a group of older people together, in the same place, at the same time for a lenghty period of time in order to take part in it.
Hell, ever have your buddies over to watch the game? Same idea.
People like to bash FF:CC, but getting 4 people together, drinks and snacks, and playing it was an awesome experience which couldn't have been done any other way. Would the game itself have benefitted from an online option? Yea, it would've, it would've been a better game for it because you would've been able to play it alone and get more of a taste of how it plays in a social setting. Playing FF:CC alone was like playing World of Warcraft alone... not bad, but not that fun. I'm looking forward to FF:CC DS precisely because I'll be able to play it whenever I want to, as it was meant to be played, without having to get a group of people together every time. I'll be able to play it on a whim.
Going head to head with someone in a game of Street Fighter 2(or Soul Calibur or SSB:Melee), even a stranger, in person at an arcade or in your home is an infinately better experience than sitting at home in the dark fighting John_32x over broadband. For one, you don't get the teenager acting losers who like to spout shit about donkey cock.
This is where Nintendo excels. Providing the social gathering experience, making games that are fun to play with your friends and family. Calling this "childlike" or "kiddie" is like calling Trivial Pursuit or Monopoly or Poker the same. It's just a ridiculous assertion.
Now, I would love it if they started bringing their games online. It would be great to be able to get that emulated social experience whenever I wanted to, or once again school friends from college who have scattered to the 4 corners of the earth. But it's not absolutely necessary.
You're quick aren't you? Can't spot an active mailto link, but can figure out how to reply. And it takes you 5 days to figure out that someone has called your gender in to question. I am truly, absolutely, impressed. I like the argumentative style too, let me guess, branch davidian?
BG&E is a very good game. Kinda oldschool lucasarts whacky wrapped around zelda-style gameplay. I don't know if it's better than Wind Waker in every way, they're of the same quality level imo. And yea, I enjoyed both, but I enjoyed BG&E a bit more. Then again I didn't like Ocarina or Majora's Mask as much as Link to the Past(Zelda, to me, is about throwing your sword with power when you fill up your hearts. What's been missing the past 3 console games, hmm?).
I also own the two Resident Evils for the gamecube, and haven't played them yet(just haven't been in the mood).
Now, Mario Kart... I don't know how anyone could think it was hard, even the really late courses aren't too bad, but eh, to each their own.
I've had to clean the contacts on my NES once, the SNES might be getting due, but it's only played maybe a few times a year nowadays(FF3-US, Chrono trigger, maybe some Rampart with friends). Anyway, they all(NES, Gameboy, GBC, SNES, N64, Virtual Boy) still work. To this day. And I just gave my DS an extremely hard wrist twinge(while the screen was out all the way, and while the screen was in the second position[the angled one]), ala a bitch slap, hinge held up fine, snapped to full then snapped close. SP holds up fine to that too. On the PSP apparently that would've caused the media to eject. Treat with caution, it's potent electronics, not a toy. Blech.
All of my old cart-based Sega stuff(didn't get a CD or Saturn[PS/N64 instead]) still works too, as does my Atari 2600. You need to blow in the cart(which was a common occurance even when the stuff was relatively new), and maybe clean out the contacts once every other decade or so, but it all still works. And this is all first-gen stuff too, except for the 2600.
Theres a big difference between needing to rub down the contacts with a solvent once every 10-20 years and having to take a apart a unit inside of a year to clean and readjust the laser assembly, then still having the thing die on you within 6 months. Which has happened to me twice now.
Slashdot Mirror
The truth is, religion spans wide across state borders. So does ignorance. When I drive from Pennsylvania into Maryland and Washington, D.C., I do not feel as though I am passing some geographical flux of cultures.
Get onto I-68E in Morgantown, WV. Drive towards Baltimore or DC. Listen only to the radio(no sattelite, no CDs, no i-Pod), preferably with a weaker tuner so you get a better feel of what's being broadcast. AM or FM, your choice(AM is a bit better).
Show me what media you broadcast and you show me your culture.
Dec 27th - Jan 2nd (129,957/482,252)
Jan 2nd - Jan 9th (62,052/62,052)
Now, are you going to tell me that anything less than nearly all of this 800k are *not* in the hands of consumers ?
Wait 2 weeks. Check the numbers. I doubt more than 87% have been sold(around 700,000), since there shouldn't be a sudden production surge(from 62k in a week to 110k per week) over the past 11 days, nor did some new game worth mentioning descend from the heavens.
Because I feel pedantic: A Linux computer is a PC(or rather can be). Hell, a Mac is a PC*.
A Square is a Rectangle, but all rectangles are not squares.
A personal computer running windows is a PC, but not all PCs run Windows.
* - Even if you go the whole IBM PC == x86 == PC 80s era shit, if you run Linux on your PC, it's STILL a PC.
Not to mention that Linux video drivers aren't bad. We just use OpenGL instead of DirectX. Which would bring us into an entire Winmodem v. Modem esque debate I really don't feel like having.
Anywho, as to Linux Gaming or Linux on the Desktop. I use Linux for both servers and on a desktop, if there were commercial games available for it that I wanted, I would certainly buy them, but I feel no real imperative to run about evangelizing for it.
Because it's easier to spell than Mississippi or Missouri. That still doesn't explain why it's more mocked than Georgia however.
Lagering time!!!! Find a cave, or a nice cool spot(but not freezing), and brew yourself some lager. It's the perfect time for it, and we've been having lovely weather for it in some parts of the US.
Obviously not $149(+tax) worth of excited. Or else you'd pick up a copy of it and one of those holiday gamecube bundles that I still saw in stock when I picked up my copy.
Anyway, RE4 hits the PS2 Q4 of this year, unless more shennanigans occur(like RE4/VJ going to the PS2 in the first place despite certain Capcom people expressing distaste for the platform). I expect it won't look as good and will have far more visible loading times. On the upside, it'll probably be cheaper and have extras like VJ did. It's also very, very good, so even if it does suffer a graphical tonedown and loading times it'll still kick ass.
New "Mature" Zelda, Starfox and probably "Mario 128" should hit by the time the PS2 version comes out, and I'm sure there are enough games for the cube you could get cheap and used to make the $99 bundle purchase worth it.
On another note, wasn't this the same site AND the same editor that posted about Halo on the Gizmondo, a rumor Bungie themselves debunked? Plus, he submitted it himself, and submitted a 4 month old Nintendo is dying article himself but a few days or weeks back.
Looks like I might need to go to preferences->homepage and uncheck the Zonk box soon.
Of course, I still hold the opinion that the Gamecube is a throw-away product. It was meant to try and make up for the tragedies of the N64, while still being careful. Even if they don't sell the most, they are still making a large wad of cash, because they aren't shorting themselves on the console price. I think they're using the GCN to test the waters, see where edges are, and the info they gather now will be used to make the Revolution trump everything when it comes out.
I kinda agree with you. I think the DS is part of this too. The big thing the GCN did for me was make up for the N64. After SEGA's repeated failings/support problems/allergy to money, I started to take a wait and see approach to their consoles. A lot of people did. Hence the failure that was the dreamcast(even though SEGA finally did good after wha? 3 bad platforms? it was too late). This infected me, and I grabbed a PS2 first round of this generation(now very broken). A few Gamecube games came out that I thought looked interesting, and I snapped up a Cube to give the big N their final chance.
Haven't regretted it, and I'll be buying a revolution when it launches, sight unseen. I don't trust Sony and I don't trust Microsoft, so they're the wait and sees now.
Close, but you also have to pretty much completely ignore entire genres, consoles and all but eliminate the PC from contention in order to have a Spike TV awards show. Oh and you still have to find a way to ignore awesomeness like Ninja Gaiden.
Gots to make room for dah snoop dog rapping over some motley crue yo.
Wha? You're nuts. Microsoft's first/second party development doesn't hold a candle to Nintendo's, and they're about tied when it comes to 3rd party exclusive development(which is to say, both screwed by Sony[Something 3rd party does well, it's getting ported to the PS2!]).
And yea, I think they(MS) did buy something. Looking at sales of a number of things like Burnout 2, the worst selling platform was kept(XBox), while the 2nd best selling version was dropped.
Fuck you. *Series of obscene gestures*
First of all, the spelling errors: it's disaster not desaster, Slashdot not Slashdot.
Second off, this is a technology site, not a human interest site. It's covered it before, no need to link. This has been on the front page since disaster relief was set up, and it doesn't even pertain to the site's main interest.
Third of all, fuck you. *Series of obscene gestures*
Fourth, here's a Peace Sign for all of the British people reading this comment, no offense meant to the french over that nasty hundred years war thing.
Oh yea, and fuck you you karma whoring anti-site non spelling non grammatically correct negative bastard. Go look at the pictures, it's utter destruction. I'd mod you down if I participated in moderation, but a string of obsenities makes me feel better you fucking bridge dweller.
Now, editors, mod this post down(I'll even use my bonus for once), abuse your infinite powers for good, because it deserves it.
And screw you asshole.
Industry analysts. Look at the lik-sang pictures of the thing. Lots of silicon, lots of chips, beautiful and expensive screen.
No way they can make, assemble, and distribute the thing at their current MSRP without taking a loss, says them industry analysts.
You've been up and down this thread bashing it. The people that I know that imported one love it and the developers that I know that have worked with it are busting a nut. But hey, you fanboy up huh?
They must not be very imaginative then. The possibilities inherant in the DS's feature set from a game design standpoint are very exciting. The PSP is just same old, same old only handheld. There's nothing you can do on it that you can't do better on an existing console.
You're not a very critical thinkin' guy either Mike. Let me take off my fanboy hat and put on my critical thinking cap.
I predict in terms of games:
1. The DS will have better controls for FPSes, anything menu driven(like RPGS), and some unique puzzle games. If it would benefit from mouse input/a programmable interface, it'll have a better control scheme on the DS.
2. The PSP will have better controls for anything where the analog stick is necessary. Racing games, 3rd person 3D games like GTA, stuff like that. Don't expect any FPSes with good controls.
Those are the gametypes best suited to each system imo. Pick your poison.
Anyway, only devotees are gonna be buying either system at this point. Normal people should wait until towards the end of the year and evaluate the game selection then.
Greatest Generation: Damned kids and your fancy punch cards! We had to hand-write our machine specific instructions on a drum with kitchen magnets, and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
Baby Boomers: Damned kids and your keyboards! We had to punch holes in cards for machine specific instructions and do everything on mainframes, and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
50s/60s: Damned kids and your object oriented programming and your Virtual Machines! In my day we used assembly and, later, C, on mainframes and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
70s/80s/90s: Damned kids with your do what I mean to function. Back in my day we actually had to use logic instead of having the machine be psychic, and we liked it! Now get off my lawn!
I thought he was saying he didn't want to buy an Atari to play wolf 3d.
They should make kids play Wing Commander and some of the old Lucasarts/Sierra adventure games. Sam and Max hit the Road! Monkey Island! Quest for Glory!
GBA(or a DS, but it has no link port!) and a Flashcart works too. You can fit just about every game worth playing from the 2600 through to the SMS/NES on even a small cart.
More expensive than a secondhand dreamcast, but it's portable! And you can purchase a bunch of remakes/reissues for the GBA.
The earliest game i really enjoyed was wolf3d, and still play it every one and a whild, but I dont want to spend money on an old consile (atari)
Uhhh.... My head asplode.
You're in Europe, you guys went gaga over crazy things in the 80s!
Anyway, go to IGN, Gamespot, or any of the main US-based magazines or sites. Read their reviews of any number of games, particularly extremely hyped things like Halo 2. Absolutely no knowledge of everything that came before is displayed. Their forums are worse.
When people call things new that aren't new at all within a genre, the simplest explanation is that they didn't play the games where those features were used. This seems quite prevalent in reviews of gametypes that have crossed over from the PC, like FPSes. For everything else, well, they don't make 2D games much anymore...
Too bad you guys are in Europe and thus 6 months+ behind the NA release cycle. I read through a few of your reviews and found them to actually be quite a bit better than most.
Well critics don't count. Most game critics think video games started with the playstation. Hell, most gamers too. Which is like taking a film critic who has never heard of Casablanca or the Godfather seriously. Oh, and the film critic's publication only advertises movies, and movie playing equipment.
Ahh... like a lot of things related to marketing and retail(like data mining)... the idea of RFID in the hands of commercial interests exites me. The idea of how a government could misuse it terrifies me.
Do you not get people together to do things?
Movie nights, going out to bars/clubs, things of that nature? It's called organizing a social activity, and this doesn't stop when you get out of grade school or high school or college or get a significant other or get married. And when you have kids you do this kind of shit all the time. Board games, card games, things that require a group of people in the same place at the same time.
Online play is an attempt at emulating this, satisfying that need every person has for social interaction. But it's not the same. Multiplay on one console is a social gathering, like a poker game. A poker game requires getting a group of older people together, in the same place, at the same time for a lenghty period of time in order to take part in it.
Hell, ever have your buddies over to watch the game? Same idea.
People like to bash FF:CC, but getting 4 people together, drinks and snacks, and playing it was an awesome experience which couldn't have been done any other way. Would the game itself have benefitted from an online option? Yea, it would've, it would've been a better game for it because you would've been able to play it alone and get more of a taste of how it plays in a social setting. Playing FF:CC alone was like playing World of Warcraft alone... not bad, but not that fun. I'm looking forward to FF:CC DS precisely because I'll be able to play it whenever I want to, as it was meant to be played, without having to get a group of people together every time. I'll be able to play it on a whim.
Going head to head with someone in a game of Street Fighter 2(or Soul Calibur or SSB:Melee), even a stranger, in person at an arcade or in your home is an infinately better experience than sitting at home in the dark fighting John_32x over broadband. For one, you don't get the teenager acting losers who like to spout shit about donkey cock.
This is where Nintendo excels. Providing the social gathering experience, making games that are fun to play with your friends and family. Calling this "childlike" or "kiddie" is like calling Trivial Pursuit or Monopoly or Poker the same. It's just a ridiculous assertion.
Now, I would love it if they started bringing their games online. It would be great to be able to get that emulated social experience whenever I wanted to, or once again school friends from college who have scattered to the 4 corners of the earth. But it's not absolutely necessary.
The day that a crap movie comes out only to boost the sales of video game will this argument become interesting.
Been done(100 minute SMB3 ad, shown in theaters), but not recently.
You're quick aren't you? Can't spot an active mailto link, but can figure out how to reply. And it takes you 5 days to figure out that someone has called your gender in to question. I am truly, absolutely, impressed. I like the argumentative style too, let me guess, branch davidian?
BG&E is a very good game. Kinda oldschool lucasarts whacky wrapped around zelda-style gameplay. I don't know if it's better than Wind Waker in every way, they're of the same quality level imo. And yea, I enjoyed both, but I enjoyed BG&E a bit more. Then again I didn't like Ocarina or Majora's Mask as much as Link to the Past(Zelda, to me, is about throwing your sword with power when you fill up your hearts. What's been missing the past 3 console games, hmm?).
I also own the two Resident Evils for the gamecube, and haven't played them yet(just haven't been in the mood).
Now, Mario Kart... I don't know how anyone could think it was hard, even the really late courses aren't too bad, but eh, to each their own.
I've had to clean the contacts on my NES once, the SNES might be getting due, but it's only played maybe a few times a year nowadays(FF3-US, Chrono trigger, maybe some Rampart with friends). Anyway, they all(NES, Gameboy, GBC, SNES, N64, Virtual Boy) still work. To this day. And I just gave my DS an extremely hard wrist twinge(while the screen was out all the way, and while the screen was in the second position[the angled one]), ala a bitch slap, hinge held up fine, snapped to full then snapped close. SP holds up fine to that too. On the PSP apparently that would've caused the media to eject. Treat with caution, it's potent electronics, not a toy. Blech.
All of my old cart-based Sega stuff(didn't get a CD or Saturn[PS/N64 instead]) still works too, as does my Atari 2600. You need to blow in the cart(which was a common occurance even when the stuff was relatively new), and maybe clean out the contacts once every other decade or so, but it all still works. And this is all first-gen stuff too, except for the 2600.
Theres a big difference between needing to rub down the contacts with a solvent once every 10-20 years and having to take a apart a unit inside of a year to clean and readjust the laser assembly, then still having the thing die on you within 6 months. Which has happened to me twice now.