Quote: UnreallysticYou may not have come across it, doesn't mean its not a factor. People have had numerous issues and have had to replace the mechanism where the cartridges and the system meet. Its not an expensive part, its just the connector that starts to rust out (inside where you can't really see). And no its not necessarily from treating the console bad.
They don't "rust out," unless you've actually had them in liquids. The teeth spread really badly on the NES cartridge connectors over time due to the stress placed on them when you put the cartridge in and then push it down. In nearly all cases, you don't actually need to replace that connector at all; if you're careful, you can just bend the pins back out and it will make a proper connection with your cartridges again. I fixed my original, owned-since-childhood NES this way and it immediately went back to working like new. Seriously, unless you're abusing your systems and games with some sort of liquid (water, cleaners, solvents, etc.), they will last a long, long,
long time. With a little basic maintenance, they'll keep kicking a lot longer than a lot of people will.
Quote:As well, yes different TVs handle upscaling better than others. All screens have some measure of delay from a multitude of factors - its why the fighting game community universally uses the ASUS VH236H - the more processing the TV has to do and the weaker that processor, the more lag there is. It's why games like DDR often have an option for adjusting arrow presses. The more upscaling the TV has to do, the worse it gets. Its why a lot of TVs now have 'game' mode, where things like smoothing are turned off (and why PSX games looks SO bad @ high resolution).
I'm guessing I've gotten lucky both times I've bought an HDTV (first Samsung then RCA), as I haven't had issues with either with any of my pre-PS3 systems, not even the 3DO running Samurai Shodown.
Quote:Being frank, very few NES games have tight controls, you may feel as though there is a phantom effect where you 'swore you jumped over something' or 'timed it perfectly' and still got hit, but it may not be enough to deter you. The effect starts to become more and more noticable as you start playing fighting games and bullet-hell shooters. Try hooking up Tekken Tag on the PS2 to a 40"+ DLP and see how well you cna play defensively.
While that's possible, the first games I threw in after fixing the cartridge connector on my original NES were Mega Man 1-6, Duck Tales & Rescue Rangers. All are very unforgiving and I didn't have issues with any of them. (shrug) Everybody can have a different experience, but that means good ones as well as bad ones. If people want to keep using their old systems, there's no reason to discourage them. People should be educated that there's the possibility of issues with input delays/lag with some sets and not all models can adjust their settings to make this workable. But, quite a few
can, meaning that throwing out your older games and systems would be an incredible waste.
Quote:Maybe we'll start putting stronger processecors into TVs as time goes on to help these processes...4K is a huge strain, and companies are already gearing up for 8k (rolleyes), so its quite possible. But it simply isn't that big a deal, and not something to 'bet' on working down the road. You're right that older systems actually fair better than newer ones, in my hunt to play DDR again I had to go through 4 PS2s before I got one that worked consistently.
D.R.E. everywhere...
- Unreall
The neverending march toward "perfect" graphics is, and has been, not nearly as necessary (and in many cases wanted) as developers and hardware companies would have folks believe. The fact that people just buy what's put in front of them is really want's driving this. The masses didn't ask for or demand 4K and certainly not 8K--but eventually companies will only produce those devices and force the standard across all channels. However, they've pretty consistently made sure that those advances are also mostly (if not completely) compatible with previous generations' hardware. Every once in a while you'll have to pick up a new adapter to play an older gaming system or hook up an old piece of audio or video equipment, but for the most part everything's there. For game systems, so long as you can plug something into the standard coax jack meant for cable, you should have some sort of compatibility for some time to come.
As for the PS2's, check out some videos online about popping the case and adjusting the laser. I had the same problem with my just-post-launch PS2 and Guitar Hero/Rock Band until I adjusted the laser. After that, everything read immediately, as if the system were brand new.
-Doug