Playing Ed Games On Ds Lite

I Tested Two Retro ConsolesOne Good, One Hot Garbage. For all of the hullabaloo its generated with its tiny consoles, Nintendo didnt invent retro gaming consoles. Not by a mile. When it released the NES Classic late last year, Nintendo wasnt creating a new field of consoles fueled by nostalgia and the fat wallets of aging Gen Xers. Rather, Nintendo was reinventing the retro console, which has long existed as a series of crummy knock offs sold behind the counter at drug stores and in the back of your local Bed Bath and Beyond. AT Games was one of the purveyors of those crummy consoleschurning out Sega Genesis and Atari 2. Atari Flashback 8 Gold Sega Genesis Flashback. What Is It Atari and Sega emulators packaged to look like the original consoles. Like. The Atari 2. Pokmon Diamond and Pearl are roleplaying games with adventure elements. The basic mechanics of the games are largely the same as their predecessors. As with all. Great List EPYX made great games and Pitstop II took driver games to another level. For the first time, you were able to change tires and gas up you car which was. No Like. The Sega Genesis console is not great. So when Nintendo launched the NES Classic, what it was doing was giving those other retro console makers a kick in the pants, and showing companies like AT Games what the hell it should be doing with those giant libraries of thirty year old games it has at its disposal via licensing deals with Atari and Sega. Which is why AT Games is backjust a year after its last retro console launchto release the Sega Genesis Flash and Atari Flashback 8 Gold. While these systems might ape the designs of their predecessors and the ethos of Nintendo, theyre still, at their core, cheap emulators crammed in cheaper plastic. Thats totally fine when it comes to the 6. Atari Flashback 8 Gold, but the 8. Sega Genesis Flashback has such a crucial flaw that you wont want to invite it into your living room. AT Games launched way back in 2. See, while Nintendo and Sony license and produce their own consoles internationally, Atari and Sega often licensed their consoles out to other companies. This became increasingly popular as demand for their systems waned in the US. Mein Hoon Pakistan more. The companies could make a quick buck selling Sega Genesis or Atari 2. Acquiring these licenses and producing super cheap consoles has been AT Games strategy since the beginning. Over the last 1. 6 years, AT Games has produced a LOT of inexpensive Sega consoles, and it hasnt just released the consoles itselfit produces consoles for other companies too. The most notable being the Brazilian Tec. Toy, which has been licensing the Sega lineup since the launch of the Sega Master back in 1. Unfortunately, Sega and Atari seem to have no quality control clause in these licenses they sell, and consequently, AT Games has a reputation for making some. So lets start with the Sega Genesis Flashback, as its really, really bad. It shouldnt be It plays 8. Genesis and Master systems, including musts like Shining Force, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mortal Kombat. It also has a slot to play actual Genesis and Master cartridges, should you have any on hand. There are even some major upgrades from previous iterations of AT Games Sega console. First is the HDMI port allowing for up to 7. While these arent really games that should be played in 7. Oh God I remember this being state of the art my roommate moaned as she spied Sonic spinning across the screen, theyre still crisp and attractive. But the checker squared backdrop common to many Sonic the Hedgehog levels is nausea inducing. As if there was just a hint of lag somewhere, slowing things down. The bigger upgrade is that AT Games finally fixed an audio problem endemic to its Sega systems. Sega games are kind of notorious in emulation circles for getting their audio screwed up easily just watch the video to the left, and AT Games has struggled with the problem for nearly ten years. Between the fixed sound, the great looking replica chassis, and the systems introduction of a rewind ability and save states, the Sega Flashback could be a great and affordable competitor to the discontinued NES Classic or the upcoming SNES Classic. But theres a problem. See, AT Games elected to go with wireless controllers, while they handle well and have the more popular six button Genesis layout, theyve got some big problems that ruin the Flashback. First, the controllers require two AAA batteries to run and accessing the slot for the batteries requires a screwdriver. Second, and far worse, the controllers dont work consistently. In my testing, it was always a tossup whether pressing a button would actually result in a corresponding action on screen. The Start and the C button were both pretty trustworthy, but every other button required repeated key smashes or brief and excruciating pauses. In a video game, especially from the 1. A lot and lot of death. There are two ports if you happen to have original Genesis controllers on hand, but if you dont want to go trolling through e. Bay for those, youre stuck with the two 2. GHz wireless controllers AT Games provides. AT Games also provides wireless controllers for the Atari Flashback 8 Gold. This system cant play old cartridges, but it can connect to a TV with an HDMI port churning out 7. As with the Genesis Flashback, the Atari system also has the cool ability to rewind and replay the last 6 seconds nothing like watching a brutal Pitfall death over and over again, and there are even ports if you have old Atari controllers, as well as a SD card slot in case you want to shove more Atari games on the console. As it already has 1. SD card slot. This thing has all the good games like Frogger, Pitfall, Missile Command, and Yars Revenge. Notably absent is Pac Man, presumably because Namco Bandai had no desire to license it for a 6. Atari Flashback 8 Gold. Of the two consoles the Atari Flashback 8 Gold feels much more worth its price tag. The wireless controllers work with aplomb and the joysticks handle even the most vicious jerking. The menu screen is also more visually appealing, with none of the discordant elements found in the Sega Genesis Flashback. Despite spending a better part of the 9. Sega Genesis it was the Atariwhich I only encountered on muggy summer nights at my cousins in the 8. I keep finding myself flipping on and playing. If theres a retro console war brewing then Nintendo might possibly have a contender with AT Games Atari Flashback 8 Gold. The minute you pick up the controller you seem to hear whiffs of Flock of Seagulls playing in the distance. When you pick up a controller for the Sega Genesis Flashback you just feel pity and confusion. Was the Sega always this bad or is it the controller Either way, I have no desire to drop 8. Particularly when its true competitor, the SNES Classic, is just around the corner. READMEThe 6. 0 Atari Flashback 8 Gold is pretty great The 8. Sega Genesis Flashback is not great. The controllers on the Sega Genesis Flashback dont work consistently. But it does fix the sound feature, and both include a rewind function for skipping back a few seconds. UPDATE An AT Games spokesperson tells Gizmodo, and other outlets, that the Sega Genesis units shipped to reviewers were faulty. Well update after weve had a chance to check out a new unit. SWANN HD 8. 20. CAM Hikvision DS 2. CD2. 03. 2 1. 08. P IR Bullet Network Camera Critic. This is another bargain brought to us by Costco. Swann 1. 08. 0P IR Bullets, at press time, 3. Originally designed to work as part of their NVR package, I took a look at it as a standalone camera. This camera is manufactured by Hikvision and is OEMed to various companies, Swann and Lorax included. Hikvision is selling the camera as the DS 2. CD2. 03. 2 with the added bonus that its capable of not only 1. P, but also 3. MP mode. At this time, Costco. Lorax branded version of this camera. Main Features. 13 2. Megapixel CMOS sensor. H. 2. 64 dual stream encoding. Max of 3. 0fps 1. P 1. 92. 0 x 1. 08. DayNight IR Cut Filter. IR LED advertised working distance 3. IP6. 6 Rated Outdoor Bullet. Powered by Po. ESmartphone apps available. Overall, this is an impressive camera with very good image quality, good low light performance, well organized menus and very, very small. The IR illuminators are bright and have good coverage. The lens, while it says its 4mm actually feels wider because its view. This is what the web interface looks like when you first log in. Theres options to take a snapshot, manually record, chose a stream and more. Heres some of the setup screens. First thing to do on any network camera is set a fixed IP address, this is done here BUT, as a word of warning, the camera comes setup with a fixed IP of 1. Theres no easy way to change it. I downloaded i. VMS 4. Hikvision and this had an option to find the cameras and change the IP but I had to manually change the IP on my laptop to the 1. I think Swann or Hikvision can make it easier on us and provide a simple IP camera finder app. The next thing is to set the time. I use times. windows. Then go to the DST tab to set your daylight savings time days. The reason you want the time set correctly is because these cameras have the coolest On Screen Display OSD. It looks at the contrast for each letter and makes it black or white depending on the background. You can see that the datetime is black when over the concrete and white over the grass. This happens automatically. The image setup screen is where you fine tune the image, select WDR and noise reduction settings. Probably one of the most configurable camera in this price range. Now onto the images. I mounted this in the usual spot, under the eave of my garage. As before, you can click on the image to see the full size, 1. P image straight from the camera. Also as before, I set the max exposure time to 13. This is a day shot, color balance is quite good and its just a nice sharp clear image. This is taken in the late afternoon, the harsh sun shining towards the camera. With WDR set moderately low, you can see the tire tread in the shadow of the car. With WDR off, this would just be black. This is actually one of the better WDR implementations Ive seen at any price. Heres a b w image at night. Good contrast, small amount of noise, good IR coverage. Since theres streetlights I have no control over, I also mounted the camera in my backyard which is only lit by the moon. As you can see, the scene is well lit by the built in IR illuminator, noise is slightly increased. Some of you use Blue. Iris software, good low cost general purpose NVR software, now with IOS and Android smartphone apps, and a streaming server so you can embed live streaming video from your cameras on a web page. Theres some quirks you have to look out for. First, select Hikvision RTSP as a camera choice. I was able to get smooth video after making some tweaks. On the camera, I increased the CBR max bitrate to 5. I set the key frames to 3. Blue. Iris and on the cameras, I set Blue. Iris to 2. 9 fps, and set the received buffer to 1. MB and I was able to get smooth video as youll see from the videos. I uploaded day and night videos to You. Tube. To see them at the full 1. P resolution, you must click on the gear icon and select 1. P resolution and then click on the icon with 4 corners to see the video full screen. The video was extracted from Blue. Iris and represents several events pieced into one extract I did. Some of you may be trying to compare this to the similar looking Dahua cameras, IPC HFW2. Q See 7. 20 IR Bullet currently at Costco for 2. I previously reviewed HERE. The cameras look nearly identical. Theres the obvious difference that the Dahua is 7. P and this is 1. 08. P. To me, side by side, the image quality both day and night is superior on the Swann. The color balance, the WDR, the noise reduction is better handled on the Swann. Also, while Dahua will not provide factory support in the U. S., Hikvision will provide factory support on their branded cameras and of course, if you buy the Swann or Lorex versions, they will support you directly. For example, a lot of the software Hikvision provides is readily available along with documentation on their website, www. Also, they have a U. S. headquarters just outside of Los Angeles, CA. If you never heard of Hikvision its because they are fairly new to the U. S. market but they are the worlds largest manufacturer of security cameras. Swann, headquarterd in Australia also has offices in the U. S. and Lorex is headquartered in the U. S. in Indiana. Some people have successfully loaded the Hikvision firmware for this camera allowing it to operate in 3. MP mode. The NVR can not record past 1. P 2. MP mode, so you would have to run NVR software like Blue. Iris to derive benefit from 3. MP resolution. The pluses for this camera are Price. P at 3. 0fps. Bright IR illuminators. DayNight IR Cut Filter. The shortcoming of the camera are They need an easy to use IP camera finder. Was not able to get the camera to FTP motion triggered video. Click here to go to the company web page for the camera.